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have arranged for a special service from Now York, giving all the 
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i^ONKY. John T. Talbott. H. H, Menageu. 

^ONEY. TALBOTT & CO. 

DEALERS IN 

33 Bay StrEEt, JacksanvillE, Flnrida, 
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT, 
e offer 400 splendid town lots at Glen St. Mary, Baker 
ity, for sale, and ask the attention of all of our citizens to 
m. These lots are 75 feet front, by 125 feet in depth, and the 
rst hundred will be sold for $25 each. There is a good hotel 
there, and buildings are going up rapidly. It is a regular mail 
station on the Florida Central Railroad, 30 miles west of Jack- 
s' ^^e; stores, saw-mill, planing-mill, shingle mill, &c., close 
-^reaching at Glen St. Mary every other Sunday. Cottages 
. ^e built for $400, furnished for $300, that will rent winter 
.. t hs for $300, and afford a refuge in summer in case epidemics 
(. to Jacksonville. 

VGE Groves made for Non-Residents. — Unimproved 
converted into bearing orange groves on most reasonable 

Send for circular. 
nge Trees. — Being agents for the largest nursery in the 
' we can furnish orange trees at from 15c to $2 each. Send 

uphlet. 

Property. — We make the handling of city property a 

Ly, and we liberally advertise all property placed exclusive- 

ur hands for sale or rent. Send for circular. 

RING Orange Groves for Sale. — We have bearing 

^iige groves for sale in Duval, Clay, Putnam, Alachua, Marion, 

,-.i ~'Y, Orange, Volusia, Hillsboro, Hernando, Levy and Man- 

c. nties, at from $2,000 to $25,000. Send for circulars. 

's OF Land for Colonizing. — We have tracts of land 

' " )0 to 20,000 acres, convenient to railways and navigable 

and fronting upon lovely lakes, which we are prepared 

. from $2 to $5 per acre. Send for circulars. 

s IN Florida on the Installment Plan. — We will sell 

I ve acres or more on Broward Manor, Floral Park, Flora- 

I apiter Island, and Glen St. Mary, upon small down pay- 

and upon monthly, quarterly, semi-annual or annual in- 

I onts, with absolutely no forfeiture. Send for our circulars. 

>'TED States Lands Located. — We have inforination respect- 

'..*>• ' ^ J position of more than 1,000,000 acres Government Lands, whioh 

be entered at $1.25 per acre, and wliich are worth to-day $10 to §50 

r'^re. Send lor circulars. 

Kaii^road Lands for Sat^e. — We have 500,000 acres all laying in 

orange belt near to stations, at $2.50 to $10 per acre, timber re- 

, v'e"1, payments small, and long time j^iven. Send for our circulars. 

'*' ange Park, the Newport op Florida. — We will sell lots of 

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AMASKOHEGAN (BRIGHT MOON LAKE). 



WITH PRACTICAL ARTICLES FROM SUCCESSFUL 

MEN ON FLORIDA PRODUCTS AND 

HOW TO RAISE THEM. 



FULL INFORMATION 



ON 



HOW TO MAKE AN ORANGE OR EEMON GROVE. 



BY T. M. SHACKLEFORD. 



FOR SALE BY THE AUTHOR AT BROOKSVILLE, FLA., OR HORACE 
DREW, JACKSONVILLE, FLA. 



.JACKSONVILLE, FL\.: 

TIMES-UKION POWER PRIKTING OFFICE. 
1883. 



ENTBBEL ACCORDING TO ACT OF CONGRESS. IN THE YEAR 1883, 

BY T. M. SHACKLEFORD, 

IN THE OFFICE OF THE LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS, AT WASHINGTON. 



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..L.Um 



-1, -, 



PREFACE. 

It is related of the King of Siani that when the first Brit- 
ish minister appeared at his court he was requested by the King 
to describe the manners, customs and climate of England. The 
King listened attentively to the minister's description of Eng- 
land until he began to speak of the formation of ice and the 
freezing over of rivers. This appeared so unreasonable and 
impossible to the King, that he interrupted the minister and 
told him that, since he had been guilty of telling one such false- 
hood, he believed his entire description to be false. The King 
))iay have used stronger and more emphatic language than this ; 
if so, he is under obligations to me for expressing his thought in 
" diplomatic language." 

Writers of fancy sketches, correspondents who view every- 
thing through rose-colored glasses, and i)arties having Florida 
lands for sale, have so often pictured Florida as the land "where 
the flowers ever blossom, the beams ever shine," that it is diffi- 
cult for one who has never visited the State to form correct 
ideas of the real Florida. Many come to Florida expecting 
to find a perfect Utopia or El Dorado, aud are disap- 
pointed l)ecause the real Florida is so different from 
their ideal land. Some take an early train or boat for 
home and pronounce Florida a " grand humbug." To 
have all of their Chateaux en Espagve shattered by one rude 
blow of the mace of fact, to see them all crumble to pieces 
" from turret to foundation stone," must be a severe disappoint- 
ment to them. But those who remain, as thev besin to discover 



VI PREFACE. 

the attractions and advantages of the real Florida, gradually 
forget their preconceived ideal, and then their surprise and de- 
light is as great as was their disappointment. Thus the pendu- 
lum swings from one extremity of the arc to the other, rarely 
ever stopping at the golden mean of truth. In almost every com- 
munity there are at least one or two self-opinionated, " gifted " 
persons who know more about everything than anyone else. 
They can tell you all about Florida, and especially is this the 
case, if they have never been in the State. They have never 
visited Florida, therefore they know all about it. They arc 
ready to tell you that Florida is a swamp and the orange busi- 
ness a humbug. A favorite expression with them is " I would 
not live in Florida, if you would give me the whole State." 
These " gifted " persons are respectfully invited to remain at 
home. There is no room for them on Lake Weir. 

One county in Florida does not constitute the State. What 
may be true of one portion of the State may not be, and fre- 
quently is not, true of other portions. Florida is a large State 
and contains soil, climate, beauty, etc., of various kinds and 
modifications. This book does not claim to treat of Florida in 
general, but simply of the Lake Weir country. Lake Weii- is 
not Paradise. The edict " in the sweat of thy face shalt thou 
eat bread," has not yet been revoked, and we still have to work, 
even .on Lake Weir. I have endeavored to state frankly our 
disadvantages as well as our advantages. 

My preface would be incomplete, if I did not state why and 
how this book originated. For the last two or three years I 
have been writing at difierent times for " The American," pub- 
lished at Nashville, Tcnn., over the signature of "Pine Top," a 
series of letters descriptive of the Lake Weir country. I have 
also Avritten occasional Lake Weir letters for other papers. Of 
late, I have received so many letters of inquiry in regard to 
Lake Weir, that the idea of issuing a historical and descriptive 
pamphlet of this section suggested itself to my mind. Upon 
conferring with some of the citizens here about the advisability 
and practicability of issuing such a book, I found that they too 
received many private letters of inquiry. Finding there was a 
general demand for information concerning Lake Weir, I pro- 
ceeded to carry my plan into execution, and this book is the re- 



PREFACE. VU 

suit. I have no land for sale on Lake Weir or elsewhere in 
Florida. My object in writing and publishing this book is two- 
fold ; the benefit it may be to Lake Weir, and the financial re- 
turns it may bring me. " Candor is the best sauce." 

To the citizens of Lake Weir for their kind assistance in 
gathering up the necessary facts and information, and to my con- 
tributors for their valuable contributions, I return my most 
grateful thanks. I also take pleasure in acknowledging my ob- 
ligations to Mr. T. M. Rickai'ds for his well executed map of 
Lake Weir and vicinity, and to Mr. R. M. Williams, Avho as- 
sisted Mr. Rickards in the preparation of the map. Dr. L. M. 
Ayer, Messrs. E. P. Turnley, W. H. Shackleford, CJaptain John 
L. Carney and Dr. Rufiin Thomson should be named here as 
having extended me special favors and courtesies. 

I would also state that the contributed articles are not from 
theorists, but are written by practical men who have had success 
ill their respective lines of business. 




CONTENTS. 

Page. 

History and Description of Lake Weir 9 

Description of Groves and Residences on Lake Weir.... 21 
Description of Smith's, Bowers,' Silver and Fig Lakes 
and Lake Fay, with Groves and Residences on 

them 39 

Soil, Climate and Transportation 42 

Lake Weir as a Health Resort, Viewed from the Stand- 
point of a Physican — 

From Dr. Ruffin Thomson 45 

From Dr. L. M. Ayer... 50 

From Dr. T. J. Myers 53 

FroraDr. E. C. Hood 54 

Lake Weir from a Business Standpoint — W. Davis Turn- 
ley 57 

So ?ial Aspects of Lake Weir — E. P Turnley 60 

Lake Weir as a Permanent Home — Gen. R. Bullock 63 

Sunlight and Moonlight on Lake Weir 05 

Snakes, Mosquitoes, Gnats,'Etc 68 

Lake Weir as a Fruit Centre — Capt. Jno. L. Carney 70 

How to Make an Orange or Lemon Grove — ^E. L. Carney. 73 

Market Gardening on Lake Weir — Alfred Ayer 85 

Grape Culture on Lake Weir — Dr. D. S. Chase 89 

Pineapple Culture— Mrs. B. B. Ricker 92 

Prices of Lands 93 

What Lake Weir Needs 94 

To the Reader 95 

Addenda 96 



LAKE WEIR, FLORIDA. 



HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION 



In the southern portion of Marion county, Florida, lies a 
lake of wondrous beauty. Even the untaught Seminoles were 
captivated by its loveliness, and they named it in their mvisical 
language Aviaskohegan, meaning Bright Moon Lake. But years 
ago the name was changed to Lake AVeir, in honor of Lieuten- 
ant Weir, of the United States Army, who was killed near its 
borders by the Seminoles during one of their wai*s with the 
United States. It is to be regretted that these Indian names, 
around which cluster so many legends and traditions, should be 
changed. Bright Moon Lake was a favorite resort with the 
Seminoles, and it is said that one of their villages was located 
near it. Broken pieces of pottery, arrow and spear heads and 
other Indian relics are still occasionally j)icked up. Deei, wild 
turkeys and game of all kinds were plentiful, and speckled trout 
and bream were to be taken from the lake at pleasure. What 
more could an Indian ask than to dwell near a beautiful lake 
with a satiety of hunting, fishing and feasting ? But at last Os- 
ceola, their ablest leader, was by treachery taken prisoner, and the 
Indians were defeated and driven far down into the Everglades. 
The United States Government sent down corps of surveyors 
and engineers, who penetrated into the interior of Florida and 
laid off the land into townships and sections. At that time the 



10 HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. 

islands in the lake formed part of the mainland and Little Lake 
Weir was entirely separated from Lake Weir proper. All old 
Government maps so represent it. 

Lake Weir then was almost circular, being about four and 
a half miles long and four wide. In process of time Lake Weir 
and Little Lake Weir became united and now form only one 
lake. But when they united, part of the mainland was detached 
and now forms six islands. Even yet all that portion of the 
lake lying to the west of the islands is distinguished from the 
original by the appellation of Little Lake Weir, though boats 
easily pass from one portion of the lake to the other. Lake 
Weir now is about four miles wide and from five to seven miles 
long. That portion known as Little Lake Weir, is about one 
mile wide and two long. Lake Weir is situated on the narrow- 
est part of the peninsula of Florida, being only forty miles from 
the Gulf of Mexico, sixty miles from the Atlantic Ocean, and 
lying on the twenty -ninth parallel of latitude. The Avater is lit- 
erally almost as clear as crystal and on a clear, calm day you 
can easily see the fish swimming in it several yards from the 
shore. So pure and so little buoyancy has the water that 
swimming in it is difficult. When calm and smooth the lake is 
beautiful. I have seen it when its surface was undisturbed by a 
single ripple. Sometimes, owing to a peculiar reflection and re- 
fraction of light, mirrors of various sizes are formed in the lake 
that seem encased in solid silver. I have seen the lake form a 
perfect mirror of the sky above. The beautiful blue, with strips 
of gold and crimson, pink and yellow intercalated in it, was so 
faithfully pictured in the lake that the water seemed a second 
sky. I do not knoAV, but I think the sky is of a deeper blue in 
Florida than in our Northern States. I know our Florida sun- 
sets are more brilliant and gorgeous. If the lake is beautiful 
when still, it is grand when rough and raging. I like to watch 
the white-crested waves " dash their proud foam " against the 
beach and break into pieces as they strike the unoffending shore. 
What a dull, monotonous sound they make as wave after wave 
breaks upon the beach ! Until within the last few years a beau- 
tiful white beach encircled the lake, afibrding a fine drive en- 
tirely around it ; but the waters gradually encroached upon the 
beach until they swept it from sight. For the last three years 



HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. 11 

the wa-. ter has been receding and we hope soon to have our ' 
drive again. 

With the exception of the islands and hammock peninsula, 
which consists of about four hundred acres, most of the land sur- 
rounding Lake Weir is pine land. Occasional strips of hammock, 
of from one to six or seven acres in area, fringe the margin of 
the lake elsewhere. Hammock, or hummock, as the word is cor- 
rectly spelt, is said to be the Indian word for hard wood and, 
when applied to land, means land covered with hard wood, such 
as live-oak, water-oak, magnolia, gum, hickory, bay, etc. 

The land encircling the lake is elevated and rolling. Some- 
times it descends to the Abater's edge and then again breaks off 
abruptly into bluffs, from five to thirty feet in height. The water 
is from one to thirty-five feet in depth. 

The largest island in the lake, now known as Lemon Island, 
was called by the Seminoles Phi/hnera, Island of Many Flowers. 
It noAV has an area of about seventy-five acres, which at one time 
was entirely covered with wild orange trees. The island is beau- 
tifully situated in Lake Weir, breaking off abruptly on one side 
into a high bluff. I can easily imagine the beautiful scene pre- 
sented by the island when all the orange trees Avere in bloom and 
loading the air with their rich perfume. But, unfortunately for 
the lovers of the beautiful in nature and still more so for the 
purchaser, Col. Wiggins bought the island and had all of the 
Grange trees cut down in order that he might cultivate the land 
in 33a-islaiid cotton. Of course, Ave all knoAV now that Col. Wig- 
gins thrcAV away a fortune Avhen he cut down the orange trees, 
.But at that time orange culture was^a neAV departure in Florida, 
and the oldest inhabitants had no faith in it whatever. In pass- 
ing through this section not very many years ago, Avhile you 
might occasionally have found some fcAV orange trees growing in 
the yards and gardens, if you had stopped to inquire about the 
quality and kind of orange grown, you would probably have 
been informed that they Avere sour oranges. With so little favor 
did many of the citizens regard orange growing that they would 
not even take the trouble to bud the sour orange trees growing 
on their land. But the cold northern winters drove an increasing 
number of immigrants to Florida every succeeding Avinter, some 
of whom wandered doAvn into this section and began planting 



12 HISTORY or LAKE WEIR. 

out Orange groves. At first they were laughed at for their folly 
by the natives and men who had resided in the country for years. 
But in a few years they beheld these new settlers gathering 
bountiful and remunerative harvests from their labors and then 
they realized that they had been standing on " the wishing gate " 
and had neglected to wish. While they might have secured an 
independence in the way of money, they had failed to take that 
" tide in the afi'airs of men " which " leads on to fortune." For- 
tunately, the golden opportunity had not passed, and with a late,, 
though commendable zeal^ they sought to atone for past failures, 
by future diligence. Through such ignorance or " lack of faith," 
the grove on Lemon Island, one of the largest natural orange 
groves in Florida, was destroyed. 

Orange Island, the second in area, comprises about forty- 
five acres, and is now connected with- Lemon Island, so that in 
dry weather you can easily walk from one to the other. Fortu 
nately, the hand of the destroyer was stayed and the wild orange 
trees on this island were not cut down. The two islands next in 
size are much smaller than Orange and Lemon Island and were 
also covered with sour orange trees. The remaining two are 
low and marshy and are called Bird Islands from the large num- 
ber of birds that congregate on them. 

Col. S. F. Halladay, of North Carolina, was the first settler 
on Lake Weir. He obtained a grant of land under "the armed 
occupation act," and settled here in 1843. His house stood on 
the beautiful bluif where the residence of Dr. Thompson now 
stands. When asked why he located at a place so remote from 
civilization as Lake Weir then was, he replied that he was a 
young man then, and that Lake Weir was the only lake he 
could find in Florida which came up to his romantic ideas of 
what a Florida lake ought to be. He also enjoyed the hunting 
and fishing. Col. Halladay is still living, having reached a hale 
and hearty old age, and always speaks enthusiastically of Bright. 
Moon Lake. At present, he is residing in Alachua County. In 
1851 he sold his land on Lake Weir to Col. James Wiggins,, 
who bought it for a cotton plantation. He erected a house 
where the residence of Capt. Carney now stands. 

-Lake Weir had long beeh noted in this section of Florida: 
as a pleasant and healthful summer resort. In ante helhmi days„ 



HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. io 

when "cotton was king," the wealthy cotton and sugar planters 
for miles around would come to Lake Weir with their families 
and spend the summers. Some had cabins erected and some 
brought their tents with them and camped out. No attractions 
or inducements were offered them, but natural beauty, healthfiil- 
ness and entire freedom from malaria, and fine sport in the way 
of hunting and fishing. I have talked with some of these plant- 
ers and sportsmen, who are ^till living in this section of country, 
and they all speak in terms of the highest praise of the great 
beauty and healthfulness of Lake Weir, and tell of what rare 
■sport they have enjoyed upon its borders. Deer were still plen- 
tiful, and could frequently be seen from the surrounding hills, 
coming to the lake for water. Wild turkeys, ducks and all 
kinds of Southern game were to be found in abundance.. Even 
jet, deer and other game abound only a few miles from the 
lake. The lake was then, and is even yet, well stocked with 
-fish, consisting of trout, bream, perch, pike, cat, and fresh 
water mullet. I have seen trout taken from it that weighed as 
much as fifteen pounds, and larger ones have been caught. It 
is no uncommon thing to catch trout weighing seven or eight 
pounds. But I am digressing. These citizens, who came to 
Lake Weir and spent their summers, were among the wealthiest 
and most influential class of people in Florida. They would 
come to Lake Weir year after year, admire its great beauty and 
healthfulness and enjoy their sport, but they never thought of 
buying any land there. But little of the land was specially 
adapted to the cultivation of cotton or sugar cane, therefore 
they regarded it as comparatively worthless. At that time most 
of the land surrounding Lake Weir was Government land, and 
subject to homesteading, or sale at the very low price of $1.25 
per acre. But no one cared to own it. 

One of the favorite pastimes of those who spent the sum- 
mer here was driving around the lake on the beach by moon- 
light. I have not yet pictured Lake Weir by moonlight. 
A pen picture would give you but an imperfect idea of 
the lovely scene. If the reader will visit Lake Weir and see 
the full, round moon rising over the waters and watch the moon- 
beams kissing the waves and throwing a silver sheen over all 



14 HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. 

the landscaj^e, he, too, will exclaim that this beautiful sheet of 
water wr.s fitly named Bright Moon Lake. 

While immigrants were rapidly settling up the country ly- 
ing on the St. Johns and Indian Rivers, and along the various 
railroads, and were writing back to their friends golden descrip- 
tions of their homes in the "Land of Flowers, " Lake Weir re- 
mained comparatively an unknown countiy. This was on ac- 
count of its isolation and lack of transportation and traveling 
facilities, having no connection with the "great world outside." 

The first orange grower, who settled on Lake Weir, Avas 
Capt. John L. Carney, a prominent citizen and cotton planter 
of Rutherford County, Tennessee. He also owned large planta- 
tions in Arkansas and Mississippi. Becoming tired of planting 
cotton year after year, and losing money, he determined to se- 
lect another vocation. His attention was attracted to Florida 
and the reputed profits of orange culture. He visited Florida 
first in the summer of 1873 and spent about six months in travel- 
ing through the State and closely examining the country before 
locating. Captivated by the natural beauty and healthfulness 
of Lake Weir, he decided to make his future home there, and 
moved clown with his family in the spring of 1874. In order 
to thoroughly test the climate and healthfulness, he rented a 
place and engaged in farming a year before purchasing. En- 
tirely satisfied and still more strongly impressed with the many 
advantages of Lake Weir, in connection with his brothei--in-law, 
also a Tennessean, he purchased Orange and Lemon Island, to- 
gether with Hammock Peninsular, embracing about four hun- 
dred acres, for which he paid $5.00 per acre. He also purchased 
other lands lying on the Lake. Althougii he purchased the 
lands at a low price, it was thought by all persons acquaint- 
ed with them that he had made a foolish trade. Several 
persons have told me that they felt sorry for Captain Carney 
when he located on Lake Weir, and thought he had manifested 
bad judgment. We will take a retrospective view and look at 
his surroundings as they were then. He had located on a "Lake 
in the wild woods," the best land on it being by no means the rich 
est in the countiy. He had had no near neighbors, was five miles 
from the nearest store, a very poor affair at that, eighteen miles 
from Ocala, his counry-town and postoffice, the same distance 



HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. 15 

from Silver Spring, his nearest steamboat landing, and about 
sixty miles from the nearest railroad. He had come to Lake 
Weir to engage in orange culture, a business of which he knew 
nothing from experience, and, moreover, a business in which the 
old citizens of the county had no faith. He had invested most 
of his little capital in land, for which there was no demand then, 
and had but little money left. Even at best, it would be several 
years before his orange trees would bring him any return. Add 
to all this the fact that his transportation and traveling facilities 
were to remain in statu quo for several years. His chances for 
financial success seem rather gloomy, do they not ? 

Acting upon the advice of his brother, Mr. E. L. Carney, of 
Murfreesboro, Tenn., came to Lake Weir on the 10th day of 
March, 1875. Before coming to Florida he had been engaged 
in clerking in a dry goods house at Murfreesboro. He also de- 
cided to make his future home on the beautiful Lake Weir and 
to engage in orange culture. He brought with him a capital of 
less than five hundred dollars. Shortly after coming down he 
homesteaded a tract of land lying on the lake and containing 
one hundred and sixty acres. He made a most excellent selec- 
tion. 

During the first year he engaged in farming, meeting with 
about the same success that would have crowned his efforts in 
Tennessee. In the spring of 1876 he started an orange grove 
on his homestead, meeting with many reverses before he succeeded 
in establishing it. Owing to their lack of experience and igno- 
rance of the business, out of five hundred trees he and his brother 
put out that year very few lived. There was no one in the 
neighborhood who knew any more about orange culture than 
they did. They had to learn from experience, and they paid 
dearly for their tuition, both in time and money. 

After thoroughly testing the climate. Captain Carney wrote 
a sei'ies of letters for the press, in which he described the natural 
beauty and other attractions and advantages of Lake Weir. 
Being written in a charming style, his letters were extensively 
copied, and led to a considerable correspondence. Through 
these published letters of Captain Carney, and his private letters 
to friends, a number of citizens were induced to come down and 
look at Lake Weir. If they once came and saw its surpassing 



16 HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. • 

beauty, and had any intention, of locating in Florida, they were 
almost sure to settle on Lake Weir. They might travel else- 
Avhere, and visit other places, but, "haunted" by the memory of 
its wondrous beauty, they would generally come back to Bright 
Moon Lake and locate. In this way the number of citizens in- 
creased on Lake Weir every succeeding year. They came in 
slowly for the first few years, but during the last five years the 
growth and improvement of Lake Weir has been rapid — almost 
magical. As other citizens came in and settled, they would write 
back gloAving descriptions to their friends and induce some of 
them to come down and locate. 

Ten years ago there were otio citizens, no orange trees and 
but two or three rude houses on Lake Weir. Now over one 
thousand people dwell upon its shores or in its immediate vicin- 
ity, over 150,000 orange and lemon trees have been planted out 
in groves, and quite a number of handsome residences, tasty cot- 
tages and beautiful houses have been erected. Lands have in- 
creased in value at the rate of from one hundred to one thou- 
sand per cent a year. And I will state just here that I do not 
know of a single purchaser of land on Lake Weir, no matter 
what price he paid, who could not have sold afterwards at a . 
handsome profit. But those Avho bought land and have not sold 
any of it could sell at a much higher figure to-day than at any 
time previous. I shall have more to say on this subject in another 
part of the book and shall verify my statements with facts and 
figures. But I make the assertion now, without any fear of con- 
tradiction, that no person has bought land or settled on Lake 
Weir who has not bettered his condition financially and is not 
worth more to-day than wdien he came here. We shall see from 
the article of Dr. D. S. Chase that grape culture has been tried 
on Lake Weir with extraordinary success. Mr. Alfred Ayer in, 
his article on " Market Gardening on Lake Weir," cleai'ly shows 
that the culture of early vegetables here for Northern markets 
can be carried on with fine financial results. Mrs. B. B. Bicker 
demonstrates from her experience that the culture of pineapples 
on Lake Weir will pay. Capt. Jno. L. Carney, the pioneer 
orange grower of this section, tells us of "Lake Weir as a Fruit 
Centre," I stated above that 150,000 orange and lemon trees 
were planted out on Lake Weir and vicinity. An estimate of 



HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. 17 

'$10 per tree for an orange or lemon tree in full bearing is by no 
means a large estimate. I know of trees on Lake Weir, not in 
full bearing, that yield double $10wortliof fruitayear.I know of 
*old orange trees in the State that yield far more than this. An 
orange tree in full bearing ought to bear at least 2,000 oranges 
■every year. There are exceptional trees in Florida that bear 
10,000 and 12,000 oranges. I know of an old tree, not more than 
five miles from the lake, owned by Mr. Dillard, of Whitesville 
that averages a yield of 6,000 oranges per year. Mr. E. L. 
Carney informed me that the oranges he shipped last year netted 
him two cents an orange. Allowing only 1,000 to a full-bearing 
tree and estimating them at only one cent an orange gives a re- 
".turn of $10 per tree. Facts would warrant a larger estimate. 
JVIultiplying 150,000, the number of trees, by $10, the estimate 
per tree, and you have a result of $1,500,000. Just think of it ! 
One million and a half of dollars flowing every year into the com- 
-axiunity of Lake Weir. This does not include the sales from 
early vegetables, pineapples, limes and other fruits. Lemon 
Island contains a forty -five acre lemon grove, as yet the largest 
iemon grove in Florida. Fifteen acres of this grove belongs to 
Mr. E. L. Carney, twenty acres to Col. S. E. Eagleton and ten 
-acres to Mr. Alfred Ayer. A number of the trees are beginning 
ito bear. Mr. Carney also owns a ten acre orange grove on Lemon 
Island and Mr. Ayer has a three acre orange grove there. Orange 
Island contains a forty acre bearing orange grove, owned equally 
•by Col. S. E. Eagleton and Mr. E. L. Carney. 

I should have mentioned before that in the spring of 1878 
-Mr. E. L. Carney bought from Capt. Carney and his partner 
Orange and Lemon Islands and most of Hammock peninsula. 
He made a small cash payment and gave his notes for the bal- 
-tince due. Capt. Carney had done some work on Orange Island 
and had budded some few trees. Mr. Carney erected a small 
Jiouse on Orange Island and moved over in order to begin work 
in earnest. He made many mistakes and had many difiiculties 
to overcome, but ne knew " no such word as fail." Possessing 
an iron will, indomitable energy and a strong constitution, he 
toiled on day after day, never murmuring at his lot or complain- 
ing. Reverses and disappointments came, but he set his face 
futureward and hoped for better things. As his notes fell due he 



18 HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. 

would sell part of his land and pay them off. In 1879 he sold 
an undivided half interest in the two islands to Col. S. E. Eagle- 
ton, another Rutherford County man, though engaged in mer- 
chandising for a number of years in the City of Philadelphia. 
In 1880 Mr. Carney began planting out Lemon Island in trees. 
He would budd the sour orange trees on Orange Island with 
lemon buds and then transfer them to Lemon Island. He also 
budded and sold a great many trees to persons who had settled 
on Lake Weir and wanted to put out groves. While developing 
the two Islands he was also planting out both an orange and 
lemon grove on his homestead. On account of his inexperience 
he lost fully two-thirds of all he put out at first, but, instead of 
becoming discouraged and abandoning the fruit business, he re- 
planted the missing trees and pushed ahead. In the summer of 
1882 he and Col. Eagleton dissolved partnership and divided 
the two islands. Mr. Carney now has in all forty-three acres in 
orange trees and twenty-two acres in lemon trees, besides several 
valuable tracts of land. He is entirely out of debt and will 
next winter fjhip at least $10,000 worth of oranges and lemons. 
When all three of his groves are in full bearing he will have an 
income of one hundred thousand dollars. Capt. Carney informed 
me that Orange Island alone in less than five years would bring 
in an income to Col. Eagleton and Mr. E. L. Carney of $40,000. 
Mr. Carney bids fair from the start that he has made to become 
one of the South's leading capitalists. When he first came to 
Lake Weir he Avas twenty-three years of age and is now only 
thirty-one. He is now the same mojdest, unassuming gentleman 
he has ever been. It was only by repeated and persistent ques- 
tioning that I obtained from him the information necessary for 
this article. He did not seem to think that he had accomplished 
any more than any other capable and industrious man could 
have done. He likes orange and lemon culture and is well 
posted on every thing connected with it. In his artitle on " How 
to Make an Orange or Lemon Grove " he will give us some ac- 
count of his experience and tell us his ideas of making a grove- 
I know that this sketch of Mr. Carney's life on Lake Weir reads- 
like a tale from the Arabian Nights, but I have adhered strictly 
to facts, and " facts are facts, you know." Mr. Carney has made 
his fortune by persistent and hard work, by doing whatever he-. 



HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. 19^ 

did well, and never dodging the tough places. He has obtained 
no more than he deserves. In the language of Rip Van Winkle, 
" may he live long and prosper." 

I had intended reserving this sketch of Mr. Carney's success 
for another part of the book, but it is so closely connected with 
the history ot Lake Weir, I have thought it best to introduce it. 
here, as showing the rapid development of this section. Now 
almost every State in the Union, and country in Europe, is rep- 
resented on Lake Weir. We shall see from Mr. Edwin P. Turn- 
ley's article, on the "Social Aspects of Lake Weir," that the set- 
tlers here comprise the very best class of citizens. Among the 
number are men who have already accumulated handsome for- 
tunes or competencies in business, and, with a love and appreci- 
ation for the beautiful and artistic, have withdrawn from the 
busy thoroughfares of life to spend their remaining years in that 
land 

" Where the tints of the earth and the hues ofrthe sky, 
In color, though varied, in beauts^ may vie." 

Some spend only the winters here and rqturn to their North- 
ern homes in the summer. Others are men of small or moderate 
means, who desire fortunes and are willing to work for them. 
Still others are persons of delicate constitutions, whom the chill- 
ing winds of the North, laden with ice and snow, together with 
that terrible foe, consumption, have driven to brighter and sun- 
nier lands in search of health and strength. They come to 
Bright Moon Lake, and in this land of sunshine, fruits and flow- 
ers, if not too far gone, soon recover their wonted vigor and elas- 
ticity. Never have I dwelt in a community where such perfect 
peace and harmony and good will prevailed as on ' Lake Weir. 

Lake Weir now has three postofRces — Lake Weir, Stanton 
and South Lake Weir^four thriving stores, and two large saw- 
mills. Handsome churches and good school-houses are being 
erected, land is being bought, cleared and planted out in groves 
at a rapid rate ; citizens are coming in, and a spirit of general 
prosperity and improvement pervades the entire community. 
All this has been accomplished in the last ten years, without the 
aid of any railroads and in spite of great disadvantages in trav- 
eling and transportation facilities. Fancy lake fronts and build- 
ing sites are already at a high premium, and back lots are rapidljr 



20 



HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. 



increasing in value. Now that Lake Weir has one railroad and 
will soon have two others, who can predict the future of this 
laeautiful lake, " margined by fruits of gold "? 




DESCRIPTION 

OF 

GROVES AND RESIDENCES ON LAKE WEIR. 



Hammock peninsula lies between the waters of Lake Weir 
and Little Lake Weir. Just at the point of it is situated the 
forty-eight-acre lot of Mr. W. T. Radford, of Kentucky. He 
has thirty-two acres in grove, and will erect a handsome winter 
residence on his lot this fall. His place is known as Magnolia 
Grove. 

We come next to the Summer Lea Grove of Mr. W. S, 
Harlan, a native of Pennsylvania, but a resident of Lauderdale 
County, Tennessee, from early boyhood. He came to Lake Weir 
in the winter of 1881 to take charge of the grove of Messrs. 
Thomson and Cooper. He brought but little capital with him. 
Soon after coming he purchased twenty-one acres of land front- 
ing on Little Lake Weir, for which he paid $600. In June, 
1882, he sold four acres of this land for $400. Mr. Harlan now 
has out about 500 orange and 500 lemon trees ; 300 orange trees 
were put out in January, 1882, the balance from time to time. 
He has done most of the work on the place himself, and now has 
a neat little cottage and a beautiful grove. His total expenses,^ 
including land, house, trees and work hired, have not exceeded 
$1,200. In June, 1883, he refused an offer of $6,000 for his 
place. I have been thus explicit in describing Mr. Harlan's 
place in order to show what has been done here in less than 
three years by a man with little capital. 



:22 HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. 

Lying next to Summer Lea Grove, is the Loav Pressure Grove 
■of Mr. Marcellus Turnley. It contains thirteen acres, all in 
orange trees and is called Low Pressure Grove, from the fact that 
many of the trees were planted out in the woods before the land 
was cleared. Next in order, is Hesperia, the residence and grove 
of the author. He has just "ten acres enough," fronting beau- 
tifully on Little Lake Weir. His little cottage of five rooms is 
■ situated on a knoll, being one of the most elevated places on 
Lake Weir, There is a gradual slope from the house in every 
direction and a fine view is afforded across both Lakes, and also 
of the surrounding country. His house has a double front, front- 
ing on each lake. It is surrounded by a natural grove of trees, 
consisting of the majestic live-oak, with its wide spreading 
branches, the large water-oak with its vernal freshness, the sym- 
metrical magnolia, with its beau.tiful and fragrant blossoms, the 
holly Avith its richly colored berries, the tall and graceful hick- 
^ory, and the red and white bay. Many of the trees are draped 
and festooned by Nature, with grey Spanish moss, reaching 
from some of the boughs almost to the ground. Others are al- 
most covered with wild grape-vines and Virginia creepers, and 
.some of the pollards are so completely enveloped that they re- 
semble pillars of "living green." About sixty feet from the 
front of the house, toward Little Lake, stands a grand old live-oak, 
with its gnarled and contorted limbs reaching out in every di- 
rection. The trees afford a dense, bosky shade, and the house 
being situated on an eminence between the lakes, we nearly al- 
ways have a gentle breeze. A broad avenue leads from the 
yard in front of the house to the margin of Little Lake, some 
two hundred yards distant. On either side of the avenue, my or- 
-angeand lemon trees are growing. I have out two hundred orange 
and one hundred and fifty lemon trees, and will put out other trees 
next winter. My trees Avere set out in January, 1882. They 
have done exceptionally well, and some of the lemon trees are 
already beginning to bear a little. I also have growing on my 
place some grape-fruit trees, fig trees, and several fine varieties of 
grapes. Hesperia is as yet "a diamond in the rough," and if, 
just now, it partakes more of the rough than of the diamond, 
.still a pure diamond for all that. In process of time my wife 



HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR, 23 

and I hope to make it almost as beautiful as Claude Melnotte's 
description of his imaginary home on Lake Como. 

I paid $50 per acre for my place, in the woods and unim- 
proved, two years ago last February. Last winter I refused an 
offer for it of $450 per acre. 

Adjoining Hesperia is the three and one-fourth acre grove 
of Capt. H. A. Wiley, of AVoodbury, Tenn. It also fronts on 
Little Lake Weir, and has a fine building site. Capt. Wiley 
intends building a winter residence this fall. An uncleared 
tract of land, comprising twenty acres and belonging to the 
heirs of T. M. Keeble, comes next. Just back of Hesperia and 
Capt. Wiley's gi-ove is the residence of Mr. W. H. Shackleford, 
of Coffee county, Tenn. He and I bought twenty acres of land 
together and divided it equally last winter, at which time he 
sold three and one-quarter acres to Capt. Wiley for $400 per 
acre. He now has nearly seven acres, most of which Avill be 
put out in orange and lemon trees next winter. From his resi- 
dence you have a magnificent view across Lake Weir and a fine 
view of Little Lake Weir. He has a beautiful home. Back of 
the Keeble tract is situated the seven-acre grove of Mr. T. F. 
Wright, of Murfreesboro, Tenn. He came to Lake Weir sev- 
eral years ago and homesteaded 160 acres, but as yet has only 
seven acres improved. He has an elevated building site and a 
fine lake view. Adjoining the Keeble tract, and also fronting 
on Little Lake Weir, is Emerald Hill, the beautiful grove of 
Mr. E. L. Carney. He has out thirteen acres in orange and 
^even acres in lemon trees. Many of the trees are beginning to 
bear. He also will erect a handsome residence. Mr. Carney 
has proved what can be accomplished by usjng the lever of en- 
ergy and the fulcrum of good judgment. When viewed from 
across the lake, his place strikingly resembles an "Emerald 
Hill," hence the name. An avenue begins at the margin of 
Little Lake and runs between the Low Pressure Grove and 
Hesperia and W. H. Shackleford's place until it strikes the ave- 
nue running between the places of W. H. Shackleford, the 
Keeble heirs and T. F. Wright on one side, and the places of 
Messrs. Thomson and Cooper and Ed. Turnly on the other 
-side. This avenue runs to the public road leading to 
Whitesville. Lying back of Summer Lea Grove, Low 



24 HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. 

Pressure Grove and W. H. Shackleford's place is Eden- 
wold, a hundred-acre tract owned by Messrs. Thomson and 
Cooper, of Hinds County, Mississippi. This tract runs down to 
Lake Weir, breaking ofF abruptly into a bold bluff twenty feet, 
in height. This tract has a total lake frontage of very near 
three-quarters of a mile, in some places descending gradually to 
the water's edge ; in others, breaking oif abruptly, as named 
above. Sixty acres of this tract arc planted in grove, contain- 
ing about 1,800 sweet seedling trees, which were planted at in- 
tervals, beginning in February, 1881, and fiaished in the winter 
following. They were of all sizes, up to one and a half inches 
in diameter. The balance of the grove was planted in sour 
seedlings in 1882 and 1883, and are now being budded with good 
varieties of oranges and Sicily lemons. The grove also contains 
200 sour-bearing stumps, which are budded with the Sicily 
lemon. The ten acres along the lake front are not planted iu 
grove form, being intended for building sites for the owners, with 
space upon which to grow grapes, guavas, pine-apples and the 
many other fruits which may do well for family use, as well as 
the flower garden and shade trees. The proprietors wished to 
avoid the error, too common in Florida, of surrounding the 
residence with orange trees, thus, in time, depriving themselves 
of convenient places for planting the small fruits for home con- 
sumption, so necessary to health and comfort. Dr. Thomson 
has built his residence on the most elevated portion of the bluff, 
which is densely shaded by magnificent live oaks, hickories and 
water oaks. From this point the view is truly grand, taking in 
at one sweep the expanse of waters, whose ever-changing face 
relieves it of the charge of monotony, varying, as it does, 
almost hourly, from the mirror-like surface of a calm, the spark- 
ling wavelets, Avhen lovingly caressed by gentle breezes in the 
bright sunlight, to the foam-capped waves madly pursuing each 
other when lashed by angry winds and driven by them upon the 
white sand beach with a sounding roar, as if it were a mimic 
ocean. And more picturesque still is the scene, as viewed from 
the bluff, when at nightfall the full moon rises across the lake 
and spreads its silvery sheen over the rippling waters. Dr. Ruf- 
fin Thomson and Judge T. E. Cooper purchased this tract in 
the autumn of 1880. Judge Cooper has not built yet. I need 



HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. 25 

not add that the Doctor and his family are charmed with their 
surroundings and delighted with their home on " Beautiful Lake 
Weir." 

Next in order is the place known as "Bachelors' Retreat." 
This is the residence and grove of Mr. Ed. Turnley, of Clarks- 
ville, Tennessee, who purchased the land in December, 1881. 
The tract consists of forty acres, all planted out in orange and 
lemon trees; twenty acres of which belongs to Mr. Ed. Turnley,. 
and ten acres each to his sons, J. H. and E. P. Turnley. Mr. 
Ed. Turnley and his family s|)end only the winters here, while 
Messrs. J. H. and E. P. Turnley remain here the year round. 
They are so popular and universally liked that their home has 
acquired the name given above. Though not fronting on the 
lake, they have a good view of it. We come next to the beauti- 
ful grove and handsome residence, just recentlv finished, of Cap- 
tain John L. Carney, the pioneer orange-grower of this section. 
His place is appropriately named Grand View. There is not a 
more beautiful place on Lake Weir than this. His house is 
well constructed, handsomely painted and furnished, and sur- 
rounded by the finest natural grove of forest trees on the lake. 
Between his house and the margin of the lake is situated his 
twelve-acre seedling orange grove, now coming into bearing. 
With the Captain, " faith has changed into sight, and hoi^e into 
glad fruition." From his residence you have a magnificent view 
through his hammock trees and orange grove of Lake Weir and 
its surroundings. A nice avenue, lined with bananas, conducts 
you from the front of the house to the lake. Standing in front 
of this beautiful residence, feasting your eyes upon the charms 
and attractions Avhich Nature has lavished upon this spot, 

"And, Avatc']]ing each wliit,' cloudlet 

Float silently and slow, 
You think a piece of Heaven 

Lies on our earth below." 

We would like to linger at Grand View, but must hasten on 
if we would see the other " beautiful spots in a flowery land." 

^ Adjoining Grand View is the ten-acre grove of Mr. C. A. 
Baker, of Kentucky, which was put out last winter ; but Mr. 
Baker had large trees set out and will soon have a bearing grove. 
He also contemplates building a winter residence soon. Follow- 
ing the margin of the lake we arrive at the residence and grove 



'26 HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. 

of General Robert Bullock. He has a seventeen-acre grove, put 
■out about four years ago and already beginning to bear fruit. 
His house is built near the margin of the lake and, of course, a 
fine view is afforded. Part of his land is hammock and part pine. 
-Prom noAV on, with the exception of occasional strips of ham- 
:niock that fringe the shores of the lake, the land is pine land. 
At present General Bullock is Circuit Court Clerk of Marion 
■County, and is residing in Ocala, but he will soon make his per- 
jnanent home on Lake Weir. The grove of Dr. T. W. Tobey 
comes next. It fronts on Lake Weir, and also extends across 
the public road to Bowers' Lake, containing in all 700 trees, 
some of which are bearing. He has no house as yet, but expects 
'to build soon. He has located on Lake Weir for the purpose of 
opening a select school for young ladies. On or near his land 
•will be located the Baptist Church, Avhich is to be erected this 
••coming winter. General Bullock has donated a lot on his land 
to the Lake Weir Public Hall and Library, which will be built 
within the next few weeks. Also, on General Bullock's land, 
fronting on the public road, is his store, under the charge of 
Messrs. T. F. and Harry Wright. Here, also, is located the 
Lake Weir post office. 

Lying next upon the lake is the grove and residence of Dr. 
-L. M. Ayer, of Charleston, South Carolina. This contains eight 
: acres in grove, now coming into bearing. Dr. Ayer's fine suc- 
cess with his trees shows what can be done on pine land. He 
came here in January, 1876, and has been an earnest Avorker for 
the advancement and upbuilding of Lake Weir. Adjoining the 
liome of Dr. Ayer is the pretty grove and attractive residence of 
-Dr. E. C. Hood, of Columbus, Georgia, who purchased it in the 
winter of 1882. He has eight acres in grove, fronting on the 
lake. The land, instead of descending gradually to the margin 
of the lake, ends abruptly in a bluff, ten feet or more in height. 
'The house is built on the bluff, and is surrounded by a grove of 
-live-oaks. The bluff commands a most excellent lake view. A 
large live-oak, that once stood on the verg'^ of the bluff, but has 
now fallen down across the beach, has an Indian legend con- 
-nected with it. It is said that a tribe of Seminoles once dwelt 
on Amaskohegan, as they called Lake Weir, and that a young 
■Chief of a rival tribe fell in love with one of the fair daughters 



HISTORY OF LAKE WiilR. 27 

of the Chief of the tribe living on Lake Weir. Tradition says 
that his love was returned. During- one of his interviews with 
his lady love he was surprised and captured by the Indian 
maiden's father. Bitter enmity existed between the two tribes, 
and the Chief of the Amaskohegan tribe determined that the 
young Chief should die. Pending the assembling of the Coun- 
cil, called by the Chief to decide the question of life or death, 
this young w'arrior was tied to this live-oak tree. When the 
Council had assembled and all were intent upon the discussion 
which followed, our Indian maiden dexterously managed to cut 
the bonds of her lover, who glided into the waters of Bright 
Moon Lake and made his escajDe. 

Next to Dr. Hood's place is situated the small grove of 
Messrs. Leavell and Mcintosh, of Newberry, South Carolina, 
neither of whom has yet made his home here. We come next 
to the grove of Mr. Alfred Ayer, of South Carolina, who was 
one of the early settlers on Lake Weir. The tract embraces 
thirty acics, fifteen of which are in grove. In a short time Mr. 
Ayer will put up a nice house on this land and move into it. 
At present he is residing further down the lake. Mr. Ayer also 
owns twenty-eight acres of land on Lemon Island, which he 
homesteaded, twelve acres of this being planted in [grove. The 
large three-story residence of Dr. Jas. M. Eagleton, of Philadel- 
phia, Pennsylvania, is the next house we strike on the lake. Dr. 
Eagleton purchased this land in 1879 and has spent several Avin- 
ters here. His house is furnished with both gas and water-works. 
At present it is occupied by Mr. Geo. E. Campbell, Dr. Eagleton 
residing in Philadelphia. He has twenty acreSj in orange and 
lemon trees. A natural forest grove stands in front of his house. 
The land slopes gently to the water's edge and the view is good. 
Keeping along the lake shore we soon reach the tasty cottage of 
Colonel Samuel E. Eagleton, a native of Rutherford County, 
Tennessee, but for a number of years engaged in merchandising 
in Philadelphia. He came to Lake Weir in October, 1878. 
His home place consists of ten acres, all in^ grove. He also owns 
a twenty acre lemon grove on Lemon Island and a twenty acre 
orange grove on Orange Island. Lake Weir has no 'more devoted 
admirer than Colonel Eagleton. Mr. Geo. E. Campbell, of Ruth- 
erford County, Tennessee, owns the ^next place, containing six 



28 HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. 

and a half acres in orange and lemon trees. He has no housfr 
on it as yet, but will build in a few months. Mr. Campbell came 
here in January, 1881, and homesteaded a place on Rower's Lake, 
putting a good house and starting an orange grove on it, which 
he still owns. Mr. H. P. Eagleton owns the next lot, containing 
the same number of acres as Mr. Campbell's tract. Mr. Eagle- 
ton came down from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, in May, 1876. 
Mr. W. C. Eagleton, the owner of the place beyond this, hag 
truly a lovely home. The view from his residence is one of the 
most varied and far-swee2:»ing vieAvs to be obtained anywhere on 
the lake. His house also is furnished with gas and water-works. 
He homesteaded his place in 1876 and now has a twenty acre 
grove of large, thrifty trees. His house is situated about seventy- 
five )-ards from the lake and is surrounded by forest trees. Mr. 
Edgar Eagleton has a ten acre grove adjoining his father's and 
also fronting on the lake. Farther down on the lake is situated 
the grove of Messrs. Ayer and Mcintosh, containing twenty -five 
acres in large trees. Mr. Ayer is living on this place. Next to 
this place is the four acre grove of Mr. William McGahagan, 
who also has a residence here. Lying back of these two places 
is the residence of the genial Dr. T. J. Myers, a South Carolin- 
ian. There are no improved places on the lake from this j^oint 
to Mr. Jas. Josselyn's place, at which point Mr. E. N. Perrin's 
description ends. We will now return to the point of Little 
Lake Weir and take a view of the country from there to the 
'residence 6y*]VIi''. C L. Porter; whel-e Mr. Perrin^s deserij^tion be- 
gins. 

The west and south-west sides of Little Lake Weir, as yet, 
have but few improved j^laces on them, though they contain 
some pretty lots and fine building sites. Dr. E. C. Hood, J. B. 
Carlisle, Willis Willow by (colored), and perhaps one or two 
others, have places more or less improved and containing young- 
orange groves. The first j)lace we strike on Lake Weir again, 
is the residence and grove of Mr. Edward Williams, from South 
Carolina. He has a fine grove and ought to feel satisfied with 
his success. Next, is the house and grove of Mr. Charles White, 
the popular merchant of Whitesville, some three or four miles 
distant. Leaving the lake-shore at this point, we approach the 
pretty cottage of Mr. H. Paddock, from Auburn, .N. Y., who 



HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. 29 

vsettled here in June, 1882. Of course, he could not resist the 
temptation to plant out orange trees. Who would not like to 
own an orange grove on Lake Weir ? This scope of country is 
thickly settled and dotted with a number of tasty cottages and 
thriving orange and lemon groves. It is settled principally by 
people from the Northern States and is in a high state of culti- 
vation. Generally, the lots are small, varying from one to ten 
acres. It is much easier for Northern and Eastern men to take 
a small acreage of land and cultivate it ivell and thor(/aghI>j than 
it is for people from the Southern and Western States, who have 
])een accustomed to large farms and plantations. In Florida 
small places well cultivated, in my opinion, is the true policv. 
By referring to the map of Lake Weir, you can form some idea 
of how thickly settled this country is, though many of the lots 
were too small to be represented on a map, the scale of which is 
two inches to the mile. This settlement extends back from the 
lake for some distance and is rapidly increasing. Lack of space 
prevents me from giving a more detailed account of the different 
j)laces. With best wishes for the future prosperity of this thriv- 
ing, wide-awake community, we pass on, stopping next at the 
i-esidence of the public-spirited Mr. J. H. Albiston, from South 
-Manchester, Connecticut. He came to Lake Weir in February, 
1878, homesteaded his present place, not quite one-fourth of a 
mile from the lake, and now has six and a half acres in oranere 
and lemon trees. Mr. Albiston is a strong advocate of mulching 
a grove. He has one of the prettiest young groves to be found 
on the lake. He is also having an artesian well bored on his 
place. Not far distant and fronting on the lake is the grove of 
Mr. Oscar Shogrin, a native of Sweden, but coming to Lake 
Weir from Illinois. He has a residence and about one thousand 
orange and lemon trees on his place. Passing on, we arrive at 
the beautiful home of Dr. D. S. Chase, from New Hamsphire, who 
came to Lake Weir in the fall of 1876, at which time he home- 
steaded his present place. It ,^extends nearly to the lake-shore, 
but does not quite reach it. No place on Lake Weir is in a 
higher state of cultivation than Dr. Chase's. As you will see, 
by referring to his ably written article on "Grape Culture," he 
has had extraordinary success in raising grapes. He has lived 
at different times in various States of the Union, but for health, 



30 HISTORY OF LAKE WEIE. 

climate and fruit-growing, prefers Lake Weir to any point at 
which he has resided. He began to improve his place five years- 
ago last February. He obtained nearly all of the materials for 
his house on his own place, including lumber, lime for plastering 
and bricks for chimneys. All the lumber used in his house is- 
heart pine, selected for its beautiful grain. The house is nicely 
painted outside, and all the inside Avork, including floors, mantel- 
pieces, etc., is oiled. Dr. Chase has a thriving orange grove,. 
all kinds of fruits that will grow here, and a fine vineyard on 
his place. Mrs. Chase has a fine collection of flowers, of which 
she kindly furnished me the following list : Mock lemon, mag- 
nolia, fuscata, heliotropes, empatoriums, carnation pinks, golden 
pyrethrums, thirteen varieties of jasmine, mock orange, ancubas,. 
including gold-dust tree of Japan, Japan lilies, trumpet lily, 
&8ven varieties of hibiscus, poinciana gilliesii, royal poinsettias- 
pulcherrima, several varieties berberry, including japonica, 
several palms, three varieties of dentizias, seven varieties of spi- 
reas, century plants, variegated weigelia rosea, several varieties- 
of snt w-ball, tea-scented olives, purple fringe tree, also the white,, 
burning bush, allamanda, ampelopsis bsi'tchii, bonvardias, gera- 
niums, emphorbia splendens, California fern, ice plant, cen- 
taureas, cinerarias, camelias, enyonymus (silver), clerodendrons,, 
daphne, chrysanthenms (Chinese), india-rubber tree, lantanas 
(white, buff* and orange), lanustinus, plumbago, larpent^e, sal- 
vias vincas, sweet violets, pansies, yuccas, Spanish bayonets,, 
arbor vitae, petunias, quite a number of varieties of climbing- 
vines, and last, but not least, one hundred and twenty-five varie- 
ties of ever-blooming roses, some of the finest of which are Mare- 
chal Niel, Perle des Jardens, Malmaison, Niphetos, Marie Guil- 
lot, Mme. Margottin, Letty Coles, Sombienil Mme. Lambard., 
Michael Saunders, La France, Beauty of Stapleford, Gen. Jac- 
quimenot, and several budded roses containing several colors on 
one bush. Also double white and j^ink oleanders and white and 
pink crape myrtles. 

The rarest stove, green-house and hot-house plants of the- 
North, together with tropical plants, may be seen growing in 
Mrs. Chase's yard, in the open air, with but little or no protec- 
tion. Immediately east of Dr. Chase's, is situated the one hun- 
dred acre grove of the "Lake Weir Company." This company 



HISTORY OF LAKE AVEIE. 311 

was formed by Mr. E. B. Foster, from Westerly, R. I., in the- 
spring of 1881. Mr. Foster came herein February, 1876, home- 
steaded a 2:)laee and put out a twenty-two acre orange grove... 
which is no%v beginning to bear. The "Lake Weir Company" 
was formed with a capital of $50,000 and chartered under the 
laws of Rhode Island, Mr. Foster putting in one hundred and 
fifiy-two acres of land containing grove for a certain portion of 
the stock. Most of the stock-holders of this company live ini 
Westerly, R. I. The officers are as follows ; 

President — Charles E. Hill, New York City. 
Vice-President — I. B. Crandall, Westerly, Rhode Island. 
Secretary — J. B. Foster, Westerly, Rhode Island. 
Treasurer — Henry Foster, Independence, Kansas. 
Manager of Groves — E. B. Foster, South Lake Weir, Florida.. 
This compan}" now has out 100 acres in orange and lemon 
trees, containing 7,500 orange and 2,500 lemon trees. They also 
have five acres in nursery stock, tw^o years old. This is the 
largest grove on the lake. The manager, Mr. E. B. Foster, is a . 
thorough business man, and will make a success of the groves. 

On the southwest corner of the "Lake Weir Company's" is. 
located the store of W. P. Foster & Bro., and also South Lake. 
Weir postoffice. All the people living from Mr. Ed. Williams' 
place to this pointy. and for some distance beyond it, get their- 
mail at this office. Mrs. B. B. Ricker is the postmistress. She: 
is from New Hampshire. Her husband, who was far advanced, 
in consumption, came to Lake Weir in November, 1877, and his- 
wife and child follow^ed him in May, 1878. They homesteadedi 
a desirable place and proceeded to have a house built and to 
put out an orange grove. Some months after coming here Mr.. 
Ricker died, since which time Mrs. Ricker has had the entire, 
charge of her place and grove. She now has out 600 trees, and 
has succeeded in making one of the best groves, for its age, on 
Lake Weir. She also has charge of 1,000 trees for three other 
parties, all of which are in a thrifty condition. She also has out 
on her place pears, plums, peaches, grapes and pineapples, be- 
sides tropical fruit trees of different kinds. She has had fine- 
success with pineapples. There is no better postmisti*ess in 
Florida than Mi-s. Ricker. Adjoining and lying northeast of 
the grove of the " Lake Weir Company " is the forty-acre grove 



32 HISTORY OF LAKE WEI I!. 

of the " Akron Orange Grove," belonging to a conipany of stock- 
holders living in Akron, Ohio. This grove is under the eiRcient 
management of Mr. E. Gillett, who is succeeding admirably with 
it. Beginning at the northeast corner of Dr. Chase's land, which 
fronts on the j^ublic road, and proceeding eastward, you have on 
the right hand side of the road almost a continuous grove for a 
mile or more. The settlement of South Lake Weir is composed 
of most excellent citizens, and is in a thriving and prosperous 
condition. The people are enterprising and public-spirited. 
They have wisely laid off quite a number of broad avenues, pub- 
lic roads and drives. The citizens are devoting nuich attention 
to home ornamenting and beautifying. A ]:)right future awaits 
South Lake Weir. I regret that I could not minutely describe 
every grove and residence, but that was impossible. 

We will how entrust ovirselves to the guidance of Mr. Ern- 
est N. Perrin and complete our circuit of the Lake. 




FROM MR.C. LPORTERS'STO MR JAMES jOSSELYN'S 



It is allowed by common consent that Lake Weir is the 
most beautiful lake in Florida. This is affirming a great deal, 
since Florida is full of lakes, and many of them are remarkable 
for their beauty and picturesqueness. Were the appreciation 
and admiration of Lake Weir confined to those dwelling upon 
its shores, all that we might say of its varied charms could have 
but little weight with the general public. But when travelers 
and strangers from the four quarters of the globe, gazing for 
the first time upon the wide sweep of its waters, stand arrested 
and spell-bound, as with the force of a new revelation ; when 
those who visit its shores depart only to return again and again, 
and delight in giving the most enthusiastic accounts of its envi- 
rons, one is forced to believe that there is something unusual and 
extraordinary in the very breeze which blows over it. And truly 
there is. Whatever of rivalry may exist between the north and 
south shores, there is no dis-agreement as to the general charac- 
teristics of the Lake as a whole. Indeed, the two sides may ad- 
mire each other, as they certainly do, for the differences which 
go toward making up their individuality, as well as for the com- 
mon excellences. If the hammock lands on the north side are 
more numerous and more beautiful in their grand luxuriance, 
the heights and bluffs of the south side have a more command- 
ing view of the lake waters, and offer many more striking sites 
for the building of fine residences. Particularly is this the case 



34 HISTORY OF LAKE AVEIR. 

with the striji of land of which we propose to treat in this 
paper. 

Beginning from Mr. Porter's place, after passing a broad- 
bay, the shore land gradually rises until it culminates in the 
steep bluffs forming the front of Mr. Moon's property. This is 
undoubtedly one of the finest stretches of shore land on the lake. 
Leaving the Guion and Jillett bluffs, and passing another small 
bay, we come to the Rapallo property, which has half a mile of 
splendid shore land, not so high, however, as Mr. Moon's. Capt. 
Ly tie's hammock and grove form a break here in the general 
monotony of pine land. The features of this j)icturesque place 
suggest many sites on the north side. With a bay between, Mr. 
Henry T. Spooner's proj)erty follows next. This has a superb 
lake front, with bluffs some thirty feet in height. A continuous 
line of bluffs stretches then for more than a mile, as far as Mr. 
James Josselyn's. These include property belonging to the Per- 
rin and Spooner families, the Baron Von Feilitsch, the Count 
Vincent d' Equevilley, Messrs. Hodgson, Waite, Snow and Ger- 
ald. On Mr. Hodgson's extensive property, known formerly as 
the Anthony place, is the spot originally set apart for the lake 
hotel, a commanding height overlooking the entire sweep of 
Lake Weir. 

To Mr. C. L. Porter, from New Hampshire, belongs the 
honor of being the first settler on the south shore of Lake Weir. 
He came down and located here on the 4th day of July, 1874, 
and was followed by his wife and family in February, 1875. At 
an early date the Porters wrote letters for the press, calling at- 
tention to this section of the kState. Travelers, losing their way 
in the pine woods, often dropped in upon them for shelter, and - 
were invariably charmed with the lake. Mr. Porter justly lays, 
claim to having brought most of the present residents, either di- 
rectly or 'indirectly, to the southern shores of Lake Weir. He 
and his family have resided here continuously for the last nine 
years and have enjoyed most excellent health, though they had 
much sickness previous to coming here. Mr. Porter and his son 
have out about thirty acres in grove, owning two island groves 
in Lake Weir, and having more lemon than orange trees. Several 
years ago he sold land for $35 per acre, but within the Inst year 
and a half he has sold six acres on the bay to Mr. Ed. Foster- 



HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. 35' 

for $500 per acre. His liandsonie new house, one of the finest 
and largest on the lake, was completed last January. It is. 
painted Oriental drab with olive trimmings. Mrs. Porter has a 
fine collection of flowers, somewhat similar to that of Mrs. Chase. 
She says she had rather protect the tender plants from the slight 
cold we have here than to shield the hardier ISTorthern plants 
from the rays of the sun. So much for the tropical climate of" 
Lake AVeir. In j\Iarch, 1875, the Jos&elyn brothers, James and. 
Charles, from Brookfield, Massachusetts, homesteaded and im-- 
proved places on the lake. In 1880 James Josselyn sold to Mr.. 
Henry P. Gerald two and a half acres of his old grove Avith 
thirteen acres of unimproved land for $1,300. In May, 1882,. 
Mr. Josselyn sold the remainder of his 150 acres, together 
with all improvements, to Mr. Hodgson for $18,000, who bought 
also at the same time thirty-two acres of the Anthony place, 
which will be put out in trees next winter. In 1882 the Baron 
Von Feilitsch bought ten acres from Mr. Anthony for $2,000.- 
This was divided into two equal divisions the same season and 
five acres sold to the Baron's brother-in-law, the Count Vincent 
de Equevilley, for $1,250. Messrs. F. C. Bufilim, Jno. Moon, 
J. B. Wilbur and E. B. Foster came to Lake Weir about the 
same time in 1876. Mr. Buffum is from Maine, Mr. Moon' 
from Pennsylvania, and Messrs. Wilbur and Foster from 
Rhode Island. Messrs. Buffum and Moon spent some time 
in traveling over Florida and were about to return home with- 
out locating, when they happened to visit Lake Weir, of which 
they had heard before. Fascinated with its beauty and loveli- 
ness, they immediately decided to settle upon its inviting shores. 
Mr. Buffum noAv has a pretty home and a beautiful ten acre 
orange and lemon grove, many of the trees bearing. He also 
has a large store and does a jprosperous business. Captain F. 
H. Lytle, from Tennessee, located on Lake Weir in November, 
1876. He now" has out, in connection with his sons, over fifty 
acres in orange and lemon trees. Capt. Lytle's home grove is of 
the same age as Mr. BufFum's and about the same size. It is on 
hammock land, however, of the best quality, while Mr. Buf- 
fum's grove is planted on pine land. About September, 1877, 
the Guion brothers, from J^Tew York City, appeared on the lake.. 
They bought land, ten acres each, a quarter of a mile back from-. 



::36 



HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. 



'the shore, at ten dollars per acre. This was set out in orange 
and lemon trees in about equal proportions. There are now 
•some five hundred trees in each grove, ranging from one and a 
-half to five years old. A little over a year ago they purchased five 
.acre lake fronts from Mr. Moon at seventy dollars per acre, and 
'On these, each has made himself a pleasant home with a fine gar- ' 
*den. The house of Mr. H. C. Guion is a neat, one story building, 
containing three rooms and a kitchen. The reception room has a 
high ceiling, handsomely paneled in oiled pine. The residence 
of Mr. T. F. Guion, completed last May, is built in the Queen 
-Anne style, with red roof and olive trimmings. It forms one of 
;the most showy and notable cottages overlooking Lake Weir. 
To prove the value of water protection and the excellence of his 
location, Mr. H. C. Guion instances a sugar apple and a sappa- 
dillo, both tender tropical plants, which have stood the coldest 
winter known here in five years without being touched by frost. 
The same success has attended him in his efforts to raise the 
:tamarind and guava. As an illustration of the sudden rise in 
value of real estate on the south side of Lake Weir, we might 
note the experience of Mr. H. C. Guion. A year and a half 
ago he purchased six and a half acres fronting on Lake Weir, at 
fifty dollars an acre. In May last, this was sold to the Hon. 
-John M. Wiley, of Buffalo, N. Y., for twelve hundred dollars 
•cash. Immediately adjoining Mr. T. F. Guion's place on the 
.north is the property of Messrs. E. & W. W. Gillett. They are 
brothers and came to Lake Weir from Akron, Ohio, in the win- 
ter of 1877-78. Mr. E. Gillett, the manager of the "Akron 
Orange Grove Company," has been able, successfully, to raise 
the pineapple, guava, Peen-to peach and Japan persimmon- 
He also has charge of the grove of the Hon. David Buffum, 
deceased. Passing along the lake-shore in a north-easterly di- 
rection for a distance of about tAVO miles, we come to the resi- 
dence of Mr. H. T. Spooner. This gentleman is from Brooklyn, 
N. Y. He came to the lake some four years ago. His son, A. 
E. Spooner, the first of the family to come South, took out a 
homestead in 1876 on Silver Lake, half a mile back from Lake 
Weir. He now has bearing trees about his house. Mr. and 
Mrs. H. P. Spooner and their other two sons, H. T. and F. B. 
.Spooner, all have fine groves and valuable places. Part of their 



HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. 37' 

land is pine and j^art hammock. In the winter of 1878-79, Miv 
Perrin was induced, through Mr. A. E. Spooner, to visit Lake 
Weir. On a later visit he brought a small steamer uj) the Ockla- 
waha River from Jacksonville, carried it across the country 
some four miles and placed it in the waters of Lake Weir. In 
1881, as the agent of Judge Charles A. Rapallo, of New York, 
this gentleman purchased land on the lake and erected a fine 
steam saw mill at the place now known as Stanton. A steam- 
boat of larger proportions was constructed to run in connection 
with the mill, and to-day no less than two steam whistles en- 
liven the quietness of our lake scenery. With the advent of the 
Florida Southern Railroad, fresh life and energy will be infused 
into our community, and the business interests of the south shore 
will be materially advanced. The Perrin franily have in all, 
about seventy-five acres of land, fronting on the lake, of which 
thirty acres are planted in groves. Judge Rappallo has one 
hundred and seventy acres of continuous lake front, unimproved ,. 
with the exception of the saw-mill and a twenty acre grove . The 
tendency to-day is to plant groves on the back land and reserve 
the lake fronts for future places of residence. If the properties 
of Mr. James Moon and Judge Charles A. Rapallo, both so 
extensive, can be given up in the end to parties proposing to 
build handsome villas rather than to multijjly the now almost 
common-place oi-ange grove, a brilliant future may be predicted 
for the southern shore of Lake Weii'. In natural attractions it 
holds its own against any lake shore in the State. With the 
proper management, there can be no limit to the improvement 
of its lands and its ultimate career of beauty and usefulness. 

Ernest N. Perrin. 
Stanton has been laid off to some extent into a town, and 
already has two stores, a post-office, saw-mill, and a number of" 
tasty cottages and handsome residences. If wc mistake not, it 
was named in honor of Major Henry T. Stanton, of Frankfort,. 
Kentucky, the author of " Moneyless Man." Major Stanton is 
a relative of the Perrins, Mr. Stanton Perrin bearing his name. 
Mr. Stanton Perrin has charge of the saw-mill, carries on a large 
business in his store, and is also postmaster and justice of the 
peace. He is ably assisted in his multiplicity of business by his 
brothers, Messrs. E. 0. and E. N. Perrin. Stanton is fully upv 



-38 HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. 

■in progress with the communities of Lake Weir and South Lake 
Weir. Indeed, how could it be otherwise, with the the influen- 
tial Judge Perrin and his accomolished sons, the energetic and 
progressive Mr. BufFum. the determined and public-spirited Cap- 
tain Lytle, and many other .substantial and enterprising citizens 
•dwelling in the community? I conclude by proposing the toast, 
'•'Success to Stanton." 




DESCRIPTION 

OF 

SMITH'S, BOWERS', SILVER AND FIG LAKES, AND 
LAKE FAY, WITH GROVES AND RESI- 
DENCES ON THEM. 



Lying north of Lake Weir, and separated from it by a strip 
■of land about one-fourth of a mile in width, is Bowers' Lake. 
Lake Weir Avenue runs between Bowers' Lake and Lake Weir. 
Bowers' Lake is about one and one-half miles long and one mile 
"wide. Passing along Lake Weir Avenue we come first to the 
grove of Mr. C. F. Benson, from Atlanta, Georgia. He came to 
Lake Weir in March, 1877. He now has a thriving grove of 
1,000 orange and lemon trees, and also one-half interest in a 
^rove of ten acres adjoining his place, the other half belonging 
to Mr. L. J. Trottie, of Atlanta, Georgia. Mr. Benson also has 
<?harge of a ten-acre grove belonging to Mrs. Mattie R. Beal, of 
Augusta, Georgia. Mr. Benson's house fronts on Lake Weir 
Avenue. He has recently added several rooms to his house, and 
now has a pleasant and attractive home. His place is known as 
Lemon Hill. Mr. Benson is the postmaster and justice of the 
peace for Lake Weir. Near Lemon Hill is situated the public 
school building. We come next to the grove of Mr. M. F. Hood, 
from Columbus, Georgia. He located here in 1882, and purchased 
Ms present grove of 200 orange and 300 lemon trees. Passing 
hj places extending from Lake Weir to Bowers' Lake, which 



40 HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. 

have been described, we arrive at the grove of Dr. James Mcin- 
tosh, of Newberry, South Carolina. This grove is under the 
charge of Dr. L. M. Ayer, and is in a flourishing condition. 
Near by lies Pine Island, the proj)erty of Dr. Ayer, and also 
containing a young orange grove. Next in order is the beauti- 
ful young orange grove of Mr. George E. Campbell, from Ruth- 
erford County, Tennessee. He homesteaded this place in De- 
cember, 1880, and erected a nice cottage on it. He has fifteen 
acres planted in grove, and has had fine success Avith his trees. 
Mr. Campbell is a firm believer in mulching orange and lemon 
trees, claiming that "mulching is beneficial in that it shields the 
ground from the hot sun, in that it retains moisture in dry 
weather, and in that in decaying it enriches the soil." Not far 
distant from the place of Mr. Campbell is the steam saw-mill of 
James T. Henderson & Co. Mr. Henderson and his partners are 
Tennesseeans, and established their mill here last April. They 
are doing a large business. Elder J. M. Streator, Mr. James 
Irvine and the Jett brothers, all from Clarksville, Tennessee, 
have recently bought and imj^roved places on Bowers' Lake. 
Connected with Bowers' Lake is Smith's Lake. This lake is 
iiearly round, being about one and one-half miles long by one 
and one-half wide. In June, 1876, Messrs. T. M. Rickards, J. T. 
Hall and B. N. Redding, of Missouri, were piloted by Captain 
John L. Carney over vacant, unimproved country in the vicin- 
ity of Lake Weir, and located two miles north, on Smith's Lake. 
In January, 1877, they brought their families from Missouri 
and built houses and put out groves. These were the first settlers 
on Smith's Lake. Since then it has been settled up rapidly. 
B. F. Smoot, J. T. Hall, J. P. Frame, John Davis, T. M. Rick- 
ards, Henry Rickards, W. L. Holmes, R. M. Williams, and prob- 
ably one or two others, have thriving groves, tasty and pretty 
cottages and residences on or near it. Mr. Rickards has appro- 
priately named his place Eden Garden. Naught is there to mar 
peace and happiness. Mr. Rickards has just completed a beau- 
tiful house, containing seven rooms and painted light grey, with 
Avhite trimmings. Mr. Hall has also just finished a new house. 
General Robert Bullock owns an island in Smith's Lake, called 
Bullock's Island, on which is situated a twenty-five-acre orange 



HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. 41 

and lemon grove. This grove is under the charge of Mr. T. F. 
Wright, and many of the trees are now coming into bearing. 

Near Eden Garden is Candler, a station on the Florida 
Southern Railroad, and named after the President of that road. 
On September 4th, of this year, it was surveyed and laid off in- 
to a town. Half way from Lake Weir to the Ocklawaha river 
is Lake Fay. This is a pretty, clear-water lake about one mile 
long by three-fourths of a, mile wide. Mr. W. H. Turnley and 
family, from Clarksville, Tenn., were the first to disturb the soli- 
tudes of this atti'active little lake. They located there a few 
months ago, have already erected a house, and will soon start an 
orange grove. All the people living on Smith's and Bowers' 
Lakes and Lake Fay get their mail at Lake Weir post-office. 
Silver and Fig Lakes lie about one mile east of Lake Weir. 
They are very nearly the same size, being about one mile each 
way, and both are pretty lakes. They are surrounded by flour- 
ishing groves, and have many and varied attractions. The set- 
tlers on these two lakes get their mail at Stanton. Lack of 
space prevents a more detailed description. All these lakes are 
situated in the Lake Weir country, and are just as healthy as 
Lake Weir. 



SOIL, CLIMATE, AND TRANSPOR- 
TATION. 



As remarked elsewhere, most of the land surrounding Lake 
Weir is pine land. Some of the finest orange and lemon groves 
in this vicinity are growing on pine land. Of course, the land 
has to be fertilized. Probably seven-eighths of all the orange 
groves in Florida are planted on pine land. Each class of land 
has its advocates, some preferring the pine land, and others the 
hammock land, for groves and residences. One thing is certain, 
an orange or lemon grove can be made on either pine or ham- 
mock land. All the lands in this vicinity are of a freestone 
character, there being no marl or limestone lands. This being 
true, I do not think there is any difference in the healthfulness 
of the two classes of land. The hammock soil here is of a grey- 
ish, sandy character. The soil of all the lands appears to one 
unfamiliar with it poor and unproductive ; but its appearance is 
deceptive, as the growth on it, both wild and cultivated, will 
show. Until one gets accustomed to it, walking is unpleasant on 
account of the sandy soil ; but the entire absence of mud, snow 
and slush will more than compensate for the presence of the 
sand. Walking and driving af-e more pleasant immediately af- 
ter a rain than at any other time, as the rain compacts and hard- 
ens the sand. We will dismiss the subject of soil by stating that 
our soil has proved to be adapted to the growth of orange and 
lemon trees. 

The climate of Lake Weir is simply delightful. I do not 
see how it could be surpassed. Almost midway between the 



HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. 43 

Gulf and Ocean, we receive all the benefit of the bracing sea- 
breezes without any of their harshness and coldness. We do not 
claim to be "below the frost line." Light frosts occasionally 
fall, but as yet have inflicted no serious hurts and have done but 
little damage. We do claim that on account of our great eleva- 
tion, and our water protection, we are less liable to have frosts 
and injurious cold snaps than some portions of Florida far south 
of us. Facts warrant me in saying that frosts have fallen south 
of us when none fell at Lake Weir. I have seen a heavy frost 
on the ground not more than four miles from Lake Weir when 
there was no sign of frost here. Does this look unreasonable? 
It would be presumptuous for me to endeavor to impress upon 
my reader the advantages of water protection. I need only tell 
him that Lake Weir is situated on the top of the water-shed 
running through Peninsular Florida, thus combining elevation 
and water protection. From this fact the reader can draw his 
own conclusions. Do not be deceived about the "frost line." 
Frosts fall sometimes in every portion of Florida. Of course, 
the farther south you go, provided you have the same elevation 
and water protection, or very nearly the same, the less probabil- 
ity there will be of frosts falling. Some of our best authorities 
on orange culture tell us that slight frosts are of no disadvan- 
tage to orange trees, and are beneficial to health. I cannot say 
how this is, but will let the reader decide the question for him- 
self. Our winters are mild and jDleasant, though there are days 
when you will enjoy sitting by a cheerful fire. True, these are 
exceptional days, but they come sometimes, and it is best to be 
prepared for them. Our summers are not unpleasant. I have 
jiever known the thermometer to register higher than 98°, and 
it very rarely marks that high. The great heat of the sun is 
tempered by our delightful and never-failing sea breezes. Our 
nights are almost invariably cool and pleasant, and cover is 
generally desirable. I have experienced very few close, 
hot, sultry nights on Lake Weir. Can you realize it? We 
Lake AVeir people, even in midsummer, cooUy enjoy our 
delicious sea-breezes fresh from the Gulf or Ocean, while the 
people living hundreds of miles north of us are complaining of 
the intolerable heat. A wealthy gentleman, who has resided on 
Lake Weir for several years, owning a residence and three fine 



44 HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. 

groves here, informs me that Lake Weir is the most jyleasant 
summer resort he has found yet. He had tried Long Branch, 
Saratoga, Cape May, Newport, and various other summer re- 
sorts, but for health and climate preferred Lake Weir to them 
all. Old Floridians assert that there never has been a case of 
sunstroke in Florida. For a residence all the year round I pre- 
fer Lake Weir to any place with which I am acquainted. 

We now have good transportation and traveling facilities, 
and will soon have better. The Peninsular Florida Railroad is 
now running within three miles of the west side of Lake Weir, 
and will probably build a branch road to the lake before the 
end of the year. The Florida Southern Railroad is now graded 
and ironed nearly to the east side of the lake, and is being 
rapidly pushed forward to completion. It will run right by the 
lake and through Stanton, and will have at least two stations on 
Lake Weir. Cars Avill bo running regularly over this road 
within a few weeks, probably by the time this book comes from 
the press. General Gordon's International Railroad, now being 
constructed from Jacksonville to Tampa, will run right between 
these two roads. The Ocklawaha River is only three miles dis- 
tant from the nearest part of the lake, lying in a north-east di- 
rection. The Ocklawaha is navigable clear to its source, and 
steamers ply on it every winter. The Rapallo, a handsome little 
steamer, floats in Lake Weir waters, and supplies the local de- 
mand for transportation. 

What more could be asked in the way of transportation fa- 
cilities ? 



LAKE WEIR AS A HEALTH RESORT. 
FROM THE STANDPOINT OF A PHYSICIAN. 

FROM DR. RUFFIN THOMSON. 

When we come to examine into the healthfuhiess of Lake 
Weir, we are met on all sides with the most remarkable evidences 
of its reputation in this respect, extending- far back into the antc- 
hellnm days, when it was the custom of many to seek its shores 
in the summer months for the preservation of their health. 
This reputation was local, of course, and reached no further 
probably than the inhabitants of the surrounding regions, who 
were largely planters, engaged in cultivating sugar-cane and 
long cotton. They may have had a poor opinion of Lake Weir 
lands for agricultural purposes, but their appreciation of its ad- 
vantages as a health resort during the times when they were sub- 
ject to malarial influences on their plantations, was very great, 
and this feeling Avas shared by the inhabitants of the adjacent 
towns. After the war, when the i^tate began to attract 
the attention of those who were desirous of embarking in 
the cultivation of the orange, as well as of escaping the rigoiS 
of a colder climate, Lake Weir was not overlooked, but received 
a share of new settlers. These have come from every point of 
the compass — from the coldest regions of the North and East, 
from the West, the Middle States, and various portions of the 
South. Manv of these new comers were in search of relief from 



46 HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. 

diseases already developed, as well as from the germs of disease, 
which were latent, it is true, but liable to be started into activity 
by the influence of unfavorable causes, climatic and otherAvise. 
Families came, embracing in their number the aged, accustomed 
to fixed ways of living, children of all ages and women in deli- 
cate health, all contributing to make up a population whose an- 
tecedents, as to physical vigor, manner of living, and places from, 
whence they came, were as various as it is possible to conceive. 
Thus we sec that, as far as personal characteristics of tlie po])u- 
lation went, Lake Weir was to have its reputation for healthful- 
ness subjected to the severest tests. These people so gathered to- 
gether have begun the battle of life, for it is in truth a bee/ Inning 
with most of them — clearing th« forest, breaking the ground, 
planting groves and doing all things necessary to be done in a 
new country. This involves physical labor ■ and exposure to 
many who were not accustomed to it, having been engaged, pre- 
vious to moving here, in planting, merchandising, practicing the 
professions and numy forms of office work, and this, too, in a cli- 
mate supposed to be unsuited for physical labor by the white 
race. Then, again, there is great carelessness in the matter of 
diet and too much reliance upon canned goods, the latter being 
largeh' used because of their convenience and also because of 
inability and indisposition to obtain a regular supply of fresh 
meats, poultry, eggs, fresh butter and milk. It is well under- 
stood that greater care in the matter of daily food is essential to 
the preservation of health in warm climates than in cold. Many 
of our young men keep bachelor's hall, doing their own cooking, 
and grove work as well, with the result in many cases of indif- 
ferent prepaj-ation of their food. Here we have a combination 
of circumstances apparently just suited to the production of ill 
health : the rapid collecting together of an unacclimated popu- 
lation, which was frequently ill-sheltered, at least for a time, 
whose diet was not the best for good sanitary results, doing un- 
accustomed work in sunshine and rain, and in scarcely a single 
instance observing the requirements of the laws of health. 
What wonder would it have been if disease had stricken this 
population by scores and the death rate had been excessive ? 
8uch has been the history of new settlements almost everywhere, 
especially in the South and West, and in disti'icts now consid- 



HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. 47 

ered healthy, and justly so. So Ave might have had much sick- 
ness and many deaths on Lake Weir, without fairly earning the 
reputation of being an unhealthy locality under proper and le- 
gitimate circumstances. And yet what do we see ? It is an un- 
questionable fact that the health of this peoj^le is far beyond that 
of people living in long-settled localities elsewhere, which have 
a justly earned reputation for good health. The aged, instead 
of succumbing to the changes in their accustomed modes of liv- 
ing, involved in a removal to this section, have gained a new 
hold on life ; children retain their health and roses even through 
the heats of summer (the writer can show four, from foui to nine 
years old, who have been on the lake through two summers, and 
who will compare favorably in point of health with children 
from any section, although their surroundings at times have not 
been suited to the preservation of health), and the adults enjoy 
exceptional vigor. I do not inean to say that there is absolutely 
no illness or that there have been no deaths. Of the latter there 
have been much fewer than the tables of mortality indicate as 
normal, and those of a character to be expected in the healthiest 
countries. And as to actual illness, the cases I have met with 
are to be easily traced to great imprudence either in diet or ex- 
posure, or to some constitutional or previously acquired trouble. 
The former readily yield to simple remedies, or better still to no 
medicine at all, rest and <|uiet being usually sufficient ; the lat- 
ter, under the influence of local surroundings, are held in abey- 
ance or finally disappear. There is rarely a call for the medi- 
cal man. I verily believe, if all the practice of Lake Weir was 
concentrated in the hands of a single physician, it would be neces- 
sary for him to bring on an orange grove to provide for his old 
age. There occur, not unfrequently, in the healthiest localities, 
epidemics of various forms of disease, which give much trouble 
to medical men, and are often attended Avith severe mortality. 
Who has not Avitnessed, in the Avinter or early spring of higher 
latitudes, the prevalence, in an epidemic form, of lung and throat 
diseases, pneumonia, catarrhal fever, bronchitis, etc. ? Who 
has not seen typhoid fever and kindred affections attack a neigh- 
borhood or town, bringing sorrOAv and mourning in their Avake? 
The same is true of diphtheria, that dread scourge taking off" the 
little ones sometimes bv families. See the various aggregated 



4'8 HISTORY OF LAKE WEIE. 

fornix of malaria, bilious, remittent, pernicious, hematuric and 
•other fevers common at times in the Western and Southwest- 
ern States, and not confined to the notoriously unhealthy 
portions of those regions. Look at New England and other 
Northern vStates with consumption yearly claiming its almost 
numberless victims. How many communities in ail our broad 
expanse of territory can fairly claim freedom fi'om cholera 
infantum (summer complaint), that terror of parents almost 
everywhere? So of other troubles, equally as well known, all 
of which may prevail without earning for the locality a reputa- 
tation for unhealthfulness. I wish to be understood as referring 
exclusively to that class of diseases, resulting largely from influ- 
ences of climate and locality, not to such as may prevail wher- 
ever man may be found, and largely independent of local sur- 
roundings, such as small-pox, cholera, scarlet fever, etc. Now, 
without wishing to indulge in comparisons with the view of dis- 
crediting the health record of other localities, I wish to caU at- 
tention to the fact — and a fact capable of demonstration — that 
this community of Lake Weir, which embraces a lake shore of 
nearly twenty miles, a population of over one thousand, which 
began to collect nearly ten years ago, has been absolutely free 
from epidemics of any kind, either of malaria, typhoid and yel- 
low fever, dysentery or other forms of disease, which are wont to 
appear at times in the most favored communities. Nor am I 
personally cognizant of even sporadic cases of these diseases, 
which originated here. When we come to look for the causes of 
this wonderful immunity from such epidemics, they seem to pre- 
sent themselves on every hand. Some are general and belong to 
Florida, others are local and belong to Lake Weir. It is not 
necessary to more than refer to the former, because the advan- 
tages of Florida are known to thousands from experience, and 
the subject has been treated by able writers, who had time and 
space to devote to its exposition. Where else can be found the 
winters of Peninsular Florida, enveloped as it is with the wai-m 
Gulf Stream, with its small thermometrical variation, its balmy , 
healing air, the invitation to an out-door life, the absence of 
sudden changes, the unfrequency of rains, this being the dry 
season, and many other qualities, all combining to make Florida 
the Italy ctf America and the refuge of the cold-oppressed peo- 



HI8TORY OF LAKE WEIR. 49 

l^le of the liigher latitudes? All this is familiar to the intelli- 
gent, but of Lake Weir not so much is known, and I will refer 
briefly to such points as seem to account for its pre-eminent posi- 
tion as a prospective health centre. A glance at the map of 
Florida will show that Lake Weir is situated on that portion of 
the backbone of Peninsular Florida, from which the waters flow 
in opposite directions, the Ocklawaha to the north, the Withla- 
coochee to the northwest and west, and not many miles below this 
j)oint the waters flow southward. Here is proof of elevation 
above the sea level. The local drainage is perfect, the soil be- 
ing porus absorbs all the water deposited by rains, thus prevent- 
ing its collection in jdooIs, where malaria may be generated. The 
lands are high and rolling, the hills and valleys are covered with 
pine forests, and nothing can be detected upon a general view of 
the country which would suggest disease. The water even in 
the smallest lakes, which may cover only a few acres, seems free 
from any quality of impurity. Xo green covering is to be seen 
upon the surface, such as is frequent upon still water under a 
summer sun in other States. There are no creeks discharging 
their waters, laden with decaying vegetation, into Lake AVeir. 
Its source of supply is subterranean, if not artesian, thus insur- 
ing the absence of vegetable matter. It is more a huge spring 
of purest freestone water than a lake, having no minerals or 
salts of any kind in solution or suspension. Many of the inhab- 
itants derive their whole supplv of water for drinking and other 
purposes therefrom and consider it unsurpassed. The character 
of the soil and sul)soil has much to do with the health of a 
country, and here we find Lake AVeir owes much of its freedom 
from disease to the mechanical structure of the soil, as well as to 
the absence of the so-called marl from the subsoil. There is also 
but little lime rock in the formation. These lime and marl lands, 
whether pine or hammock, are not so healthy as where these 
features are less prominent, as is the case about Lake Weir, 
where the almost entire absence of evidences of malaria has 
marked its health record. There is an almost constant breeze 
from some quarter, soft and balmy, never harsh or irritating to 
the weakest lungs in the winter and always cool and refreshing 
in the summer, even with the thermometer registering above 
ninetv. This wind comes usually from the direction of the At- 



50 



HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. 



lantic or Gulf, blowing over the pine forests, thus having 
the bracing quality of the salt air modified by the resinous ex- 
halations from the pines. In the daytime the prevailing winds 
are from the Ocean, after night-fall the direction is reversed and 
the wind comes from the Gulf. Our nights are cool and pleasant 
in the summer, thus insuring healthful sleep, which is a most 
important factor in enabling the system to preserve its equipoise. 
In this we have a great advantage over localities in most of the 
States, where sultry nights forbid restful sleep and the morning 
frequently finds one quite as tired as in the beginning of the 
night. These and many other natural advantages combine to 
account fi)r the healthfulness of Lake Weir, which even rival 
communities have never denied in the most eager competition 
for immigration. And here will flow an ever increasing stream 
of health seekers in the years to come; when with good transr 
portation and hotel facilities we can offer accommodations to the 
throng, making of beautiful Lake Weir a Mecca, towards which 
each winter the footsteps of the weary invalid will turn for as- 
sured relief. Ruffin Thomson, M. D. i 
Lake Weir. 



FROM DR L. M. AYER. 

The beneficial effects of the climate of Florida to those suf- 
fering with throat and lung diseases are so universally admitted, 
and have so many living Avitnesses, that it would be a useless 
waste of time to discuss the fact. Has Lake Weir any attrac- 
tions over other portions of Florida in general, and over the high 
ridge lands of the interior in particular, to offer to those suffering 
with pulmonary diseases? Its freedom from malarial fevers, 
permitting the actual settler to live here both during winter and 
summer, is a strong recommendation. It offers all of the water 
advantages of boating, fishing, hunting and bathing, so necessary 
to stimulate a tired and diseased body and mind to action and 
exercise. It is free from the cold, cutting winds of the coast, 
and from the vitiated atmosphere of the damp, flat prairie lands. 



HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. 51 

The healing aroma, coming from the pine forests, seems to purif}'' 
the atmosphere. Last, but not least, the cheerful, happy, hope- 
ful people dwelling on Lake Weir prevent the blues, and the in- 
valid is frequently persuaded and encouraged into putting out 
an orange grove or truck patch, the exercise, labor and atten- 
tion of which is better than all the nostrums of the druggist. It 
is a fact that all disease vitiates or poisons the blood, and it in 
turn deranges all the other organs of the body. Hence one suf- 
fering with consumption, settling in a malarial section, would 
be liable to complicate it with some form of malarial fever; 
therefore the place naturally most healthy would be worthy of 
consideration by the invalid. Having had some of the practice 
of Lake AVeir and vicinity for a number of years, as well as of 
the country for mauy miles beyond, I cannot recall a single case 
of malarial fever that originated on the pine lands of the lake,, 
or a,ffected any of those who have lived exclusively here. I 
mean to distinguish those who live on Lake Weir and the ad- 
joining lakes all the year from those who spend a portion of the 
year on the heavy hammock or swamp lands away from the lake- 
and return here in the summer. It has naturally fallen to my 
lot to witness some almost miraculous recoveries from pulmo- 
nary diseases, which Avere attributed to this special locality ; but 
the same has been seen in almost every part of the State. Dr.. 
Charles Horsie, Avho raade a specialty of pulmonary diseases, and 
had a large experience in many localities of Florida, 3xpressed 
as his opinion that the ridge, or "backbone," running down the 
peninsula of Florida was the best locality for consumptives. He 
thought the dry, pure atmosphere and large pine forests had pe- 
culiar curative effects on the lungs. These pine hills of the in- 
terior are fast growing into favor with physicians, who are not 
directly interested elsewhere. Lake Weir is but a huge basin of 
pure, clear, soft ,water, located upon the very top of this high 
ridge country. As stated before, I believe the immediate lake 
regi n to be entirely exempt from malarial fevers. I have at- 
tended a few cases of fever originating among the early settlers- 
in the hammock region of the lake. But of late years it has en- 
tirely disappeared, which fact is easily explained. It is an ad- 
mitted fact that cool, damp spots can and do accumulate mala- 
ria. The first settlers in the hammock on the lake made but a. 



52 HISTORY OF LAKE WEIK. 

;small clearing, while all around grew dense forests. During the 
Tainy season of the summer months the earth and trash kept 
wet, seldom drying during the period of four months. As soon 
as the timber was cut down and burned and the land exposed to 
the sun ar.d put in a state of cultivation, all fevers disappeared. 
It is also an admitted fact that malaria loses its jDoisonous effect 
by passing over a body of clear water. We have at least escaped 
malaria so fer for the period of eight years. There is an idea I 
find very general among visitors to Florida, that new settlers are 
more liable to suffer from diseases of a malarial nature than old 
.settlers, who, they claim, have become acclimated. The very re- 
verse of this is true. Malaria is a poison, accumulative in its 
effects, by degrees poisoning the organs of the body, especially 
the liver and spleen. The longer one remains under malarial 
influences the more liable is he to suffer from their efl'ects. So 
well is this fact known in Florida, that in localities where the 
jjeople suffer from malarial fevers, many persons take their fam- 
ilies away every alternate summer, and find that they can with 
impunity spend one summer at home. But three cases of asthma 
have come under my observation. These were all benefitted by 
coming here; the attacks were less severe, and the intervals much 
longer. The benefits were gradual, and the patients continued 
.to imj)rove every year. Both the climate and mode of life here 
have a marked beneficial effect on neuralgia. It is a mistaken 
idea to say that pine lands are healthy and hammock lands 
.are sickly. Either the pine or hammock land, having a rock or 
limestone sub-stratum, and much of it exposed to the sun and 
rain, will produce malarial fevers, the pine but little less than 
the hammock. It is also an error to say that the high., rolling- 
lands are healthy and the flat, low lands sickly. The hammock 
and pine lands just mentioned are usually high, broken lands ; 
while the class of land known as flat woods, having a sub-soil of 
'Clay some few inches beneath the surface, is comparatively healthy. 
High, rolling, sandy land, having a sub-stratum of yellow dirt^ 
and then a stratum of clay, from a few feet to a great depth be- 
low the surface, rank first in point of health. These opinions 
are formed after nearly eight yeai's practice in this section, being 
intimately acquainted with the people, both the native Floridi- 
.ans and the emigrants, their mode of life and habits, the crops 



HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. O* 

raised, and how cultivated. I have written this tor the people: 
at large more than for the medical profession. 

Respectfully, L. M. Ayer, M. D. 

Lake Weir. 



FROM DR. T. J. MYERS. 
Mi: T. M. Shackleford : 

Dear Sir : — ^In reply to your inquiries, perjiiit me to say 
that I have been a resident of this State quite thirty years^ 
during Avhich time I have resided in the counties of Alachua^ 
Marion, Suniter, Orange and Hernando. At present I reside on 
Lake Weir, at which place I have been located for the last ten 
years, engaged in the practice of medicine, doing my practice on 
the Ocklawaha river and in the low hammock aAvay from the 
lake. The practice on Lake Weir is very little, as we have had 
no sickness of any consequence, though it is settled up more 
thickly than the surrounding country. In fact, if I had to de- 
pend upon the practice of medicine on Lake Weir for a sup- 
port, I would soon starve out. In all my perambulations 
through the State I have found very few localities exempt from 
diseases of a: malarial character. Lake Weir has been for years 
tlie summer resort of the planters living on the low hammock 
and lime lands for miles around. It is one of the most beauti- 
ful spots as well as the healthiest section of Florida, so far as I 
have seen and experienced. I have seen Florida all through,. 
and as I have been engaged in the j^ractice of medicine during 
my residence in the State, I have certainly had some little 
experience in the treatment of the diseases to which we are sub- 
ject. And I must say, in all candor, that I consider Lake Weir 
as fi^ee trom all diseases of a malarial nature, and as healthy 
during all seasons of the year, as the mountains of North Caro- 
lina and Virginia. Lake Weir is specially adapted to the 
Northern invalid during winter as a health resort. The atmos- 
phere is dry and soothing, the temperature always pleasant and 
the resources for sport in fishing and hunting unsurpassed. The 
bathing, even in winter, is delightful to persons whose health 



-d4 history of lake weir. 

will admit of it. We have no cold, bleak -winds in winter and 
no hot, dry, sultry days in summer. I hope you will excuse me 
from designating the sickly localities. I think it is enough for 
me to say that I consider Lake Weir and the country imme- 
diately around it as the healthiest, most pleasant and most de- 
sirable country for all the purposes of life that I have found. 
True, the game is getting somcAvhat scarce, and consequently the 
hunting is not so good as formerly, but all new comers can find 
•enough game to keep them exercised. As to the fishing, you 
Icnow about that as well as I do. 

Yours, truly, . 

T. J. Myers, M. D. 
Lake Weir, August 17th, 1883. 



FMOM DR. E. C. HOOD. 

Columbus, Ga., August 2, 1883. 
T. M. ShacMeford, Esq.: 

Dear Sir : — Your favor of the 23d ult. has been received. 
You request me to write an article for your book, descriptive of 
" Lake Weir as a Health Resort," viewing it from the stand- 
point of a physician, and in doing so to answer the following 
questions : " Where did you graduate in medicine and when ? 
( 2 ) wdiat think you of Lake Weir for the relief of lung, bron- 
chial and kidney diseases, rheumatism and neuralgia?" To 
the first question I answer that I graduated in medicine at the 
Transylvania University of Kentucky, in the year 1840. To 
the second question I answer that, having spent only two win- 
ters and a part of one summer in Florida, my opportunities for 
observation have been somewhat limited, therefore my answer 
shall be brief. 

It is a well known fact among physicians that a large pro- 
portion of the diseases to which " human flesh is heir" is pro- 
duced by great and sudden fluctuations in temperature. Espec- 
ially is this true in regard to the diseases to which you refer in 
ypur questions. It is also a well-recognized fact that it is quite 
difficult to successfullv treat those diseases where these sudden 



HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. 55 

and extreme changes of the weather are continually operating, 
as is the case in the higher latitudes. Therefore, a residence in 
an equable atmosphere, such as South Florida presents, will fre- 
quently accomplish more, far more, for the sufferer than the 
most skillful medical treatment in a higher latitude. As for 
Lake Weir, it is unsurpassed for jDurity of air, beauty of scene- 
ry and excellence of society by any jDlace I haye ever seen. 
Being surrounded by a pine forest, whose healing aroma is being 
continually diffiised by the soft breezes of an equable and dry 
atmosphere, makes it a delightful home for the sick and the 
well. With such favorable surroundings, if not too far exhaust- 
ed, why should not the feeble one reach and realize, as many 
have done, that Lake Weir is indeed the " invalid's paradise "? 
It is a place where he can spend not only his winters, but his 
summers also, no malarial poison lurking in the atmosphere to 
vitiate the blood and engender disease. Such is Lake Wei]-, as 
I see it and honestly believe it to be. 

Heartilv commending your enterprise and wishing you 
much success, I am 

Yours, truly, 

E. C. Hood, M. D. 



All of these physicians are graduates in medicine and stand 
liigh in the profession. 

In collecting information for this book I made it a sj)ecial 
point to ask all of the citizens living on or in the vicinity of 
Lake Weir, "What do you knoiv of the healthfulness of Lake 
Weir ?" I saw many of the citizens in person, and sent printed 
circulars containing this question to those I did not see. In 
every instance they replied that they enjoyed fully as good or 
better health on Lake Weir than they did at their former homes. 
There are families who have been living here for several years 
and have never had occasion to call in the services of a physi- 
cian, though they had much sickness when living elsewhere. 
Lake Weir can show a truly wonderful health record. I 
have lived in various portions of Tennessee, having spent sev- 
eral years in the Cumberland Mountains, but never elsewhere 
have I enjoyed such perfect health as I have had since I have 



56 HISTORY OF LAKE AVEIK. 

been living on Lake Weir. I came here first in January, 1881,, 
purchased my present home (Hesperia), remained seven months,, 
and returned to Tennessee. I returned to Lake Weir with my 
wife in December, 1882. For the last fifteen years I have been 
troubled with nasal catarrh, and have vainly tried many patent 
medicines, and have been under the ti'eatment of able phj'^si- 
cians. I am now almost entirely cured, and think a fcAv months 
longer in Florida, on Lake Weir, will make the cure a perma- 
nent one. I was also frequently troubled with neuralgia in Ten- 
nessee, probably produced by the catarrh. I have not had a sin- 
gle attack of neuralgia or sick headache since I have been on 
Lake Weir. I have taken no medicine of any kind for my dis- 
ease. 

My wife h.as been subject every summer for the last six or 
seven years to violent attacks of hay asthma, a disease somewhat, 
similar to hay fever. In the winter she was frequently troubled 
with bronchitis and sore throat. She had tried many remedies 
but to no purpose. She had a very sore throat when we left 
Tennessee, but obtained relief shortly after reaching Lake Weir, 
without the use of any medicine, and has not been troubled with 
sore throat since. This summer, for the first time in years, she 
has not had even the slightest attack of asthma. All this has 
been accomplished simply by living on Lake Weir and bi'catli- 
ing its balsamic, health-giving air. 

To those persons who suffer Avith lung and throat diseases, 
I would say, "'Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.'" 
" Throw 2:)hysic to the dogs," and come to Lake Weir. 




LAKE WEIR FROM A BUSINESS 
STANDPOINT. 



That Avliich most characterizes the American people is 
energy. Business is the chief employment of this go-ahead, 
progressive nation. With all their appreciation for other 
things, (for ours is indeed a cosmopolitan mind,) "what doth it 
j)rofit ?" is the great question, and this is the question which I> 
in a brief manner, j)ropose to answer in regard to Lake Weir. 
Our universally admitted advantages of health, beauty of loca- 
tion and society are apt to throw ■ into comparative obscurity 
this topic of the general head— Inducements. 

In fact, those who, by reason of location in a rival commu- 
nity, have a prejudice against Lake Weir, finding that they 
must admit its health, beauty, etc., say, "Ah! but its lands are 
so poor" ; thinking by this report to turn away all but men of 
capital, who come to Florida for some other reason than to make 
money. Now, to the industrious, orderly, moral poor man we 
say "Come." Come first yourself, and see for yourself, and then, 
if you are not ready to admit that ours is a jDrosperous and 
thriving community as well as a choice one, take your family 
elsewhere. We invite investigation, and are willing to abide bv 
the verdict of intelligent business men. I know that some are 
ready to say that, if our lands are reputed poor, they must to 
some extent he poor ; that wdiere there is smoke, some fire must 
be ; that people form opinions at the suggestion of truth. Well, 
to such of them as are influenced by no second motive, we are 



68 HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. 

■willing to frankly admit that ours are not as good farming lands 
as some of the low-lying, unhealthy hammocks that are to be so 
carefully avoided by all, except the most hale. That there are 
jjlaces better adaj)ted to the growth of cotton, corn, cane and 
chills than Lake Weir, we will not deny; for it is the avowed 
purpose of this book to give information and tell the truth, and 
if anything, which makes against our reputation, ought to be 
told, it shall be told. "Honest}^ is the best policy," — Lake Weir, 
the best place. Although ours is not the best farming country 
in the State, yet the production of annually planted crops has 
paid, is now profitably engaged in, and will continue to pay in 
our midst. But what man, unless something else determines his 
action, would leave the great wheat farms of the Northwest, the 
■corn and tobacco fields of Tennessee and Kentucky, or the rice 
plantations of South Carolina, and come to any portion of 
Florida to farm ? While we can very favorably compare with 
the Eastern and some of the Southern States in this line, it can- 
not be denied that Florida is far below some of the States of the 
Union for general farming purposes. But, for raising oranges 
and other members of the citrus family, we challenge the com- 
petition and admiration of the Avorld. And what Florida is in 
this respect to the rest of the world. Lake Weir is to Florida — 
the pride of orange men. What has just been said applies to 
farming in general. Truck farming is fast developing — yea, has 
already developed — into one of the leading industries of this 
most industrious State. The time is not far distant when Flori- 
da will far excel all other States in the producing and shipment 
of early vegetables. Now in this Lake Weir can show a most 
satisfactory report. Large quantities of tomatoes, squashes, cu- 
cumbers, etc., are shipped annually. Melons are also raised in 
great quantiti'^s and of the finest flavor; but as yet no one has 
engaged in their shipment. Several are contemplating a large 
planting this winter, when we shall have better railroad facili- 
ties. When the Florida Southern Kailroad shall have been 
completed to the lake, which will be in a few weeks, the oppor- 
tunities for rapid shipment will be largely increased, and con- 
sequently this branch of business will be proportionally enlarged. 
To thos3 commercially interested there is every inducement 
to come to this neighborhood. At present there are around the 



HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. 59 

lake four stores of general mercliaiidise, two saw-mills, one of 
them being also a well appointed planing mill, and three post- 
offices. Q,uite a town is springing up around Lake Weir, hav- 
ing for its public square the most beautiful lake in all this sunny 
Southland, with a new and jaunty steamer for its omnibus, and 
numerous smaller boats for private carriages. The numerous 
and thrifty groves of oranges, lemons and limes will prevent this 
from being a city compacted together closely, like others ; but 
the advantages of both the city and country will unite to make 
this one of the most charming places on the continent. When 
two railroads shall embrace us and two steamers ply between, 
we shall have all that is desired in the way of transportation, 
and our present encouraging business out-look will, of course, 
be more encouraging. 

W. D. TURXLEY. 

Lake Weir. 




SOCIAL ASPECTS OF LAKE WEIR. 

Viewed from a social stand-point, Lake Weir has many at- 
' tractions. The most of the people who have settled on its 
shores came from old and long settled commnnities. They are, 
in the main, well educated, cultured, refined and hospitable. 
Though gathered together from many different States and 
countries, they dwell together on Lake Weir in peace and unity. 
Out of the one thousand or more people who have settled on 
Lake Weir and in the immediate vicinity, nearly all are en- 
iraged in fruit-growing. Satisfied with their business, and full 
of "confidence for their future, a more hopeful, prosperous and 
happy people cannot be found. The citizens are energetic, in- 
dustrious and public-spirited. In each of the settlements the so- 
cial ties are strong. In a new community the people,. in their 
intercourse with one another, are not fettered by many of the 
formalities of older places. Here the principal requirement for 
recoo-nition is a good character. Without this one cannot enter 
the best society; with it he will find a hearty welcome. The 
present improvements on the lake will not furnish entertainment 
for those who are strictly society people. Their expectations and 
demands cannot be fully met until hotels and public buildmgs 
are constructed in the most approved methods of modern archi- 
tecture, and controlled by talent that understands the art of 
making one comfortable and contented. Glimpses of these have 
already been obtained, and it is said that in the near future 
they will become realities. The entertainments given by the 



HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. 61 

young ladies and gentlemen are equal in elegance and refine- 
ment to those of any of the country towns and villages North or 
South. The advantages Lake Weir affords for individual enter- 
tainment and culture are daily improving. There is already 
started the nucleus of a j^ublic library ; a lot has been secured, 
and a building of modest pretensions will soon be erected. Fif- 
teen hundred volumes have been donated, and those who have 
charge of the enterprise are confident that the number will soon 
be increased to thousands. There are three public schools on or 
near the lake ; these are under the charge of competent teachers. 
Dr. Thos. W. Tobey, a minister of the Baptist Church, formerly 
a missionary to China and late professor of languages in Shorter 
College at Rome, Georgia, will in October next open a seminary 
for a limited, number of young ladies. He will be assisted by his 
wife, Avho Avas also a teacher in Shorter College. This is only 
the beginning of what Ave hope may soon be an institution of 
learning equal to any in the South. There are five " clubs " on 
the lake : " The Pioneer Reading Club," of the east side, " The 
South Side Reading Club," and " The Lake Weir Reading Club," 
" The Stephens Debating Club " and " The Horace Club," of the 
north-AA'est side. The purpose of the reading club is social and 
literary enjoyment. The debating club is intended to provide 
the young men A\'ith opportunities to familiarize themselves AA'ith 
questions of local and national interest, to become more profi- 
cient in the art of speaking and versed in the laAA's that govern 
legislative assemblies and literary institutions. The Horace 
Club is composed of those Avho Avish to revicAv the classics, and 
noAv has seven members enrolled. Religious services are held 
CA^ery Sunday on some part of the lake. Tha Baptists have or- 
ganized, and Avill this AAanter erect a handsome church edifice. 
The RcA'. Mr Nash, of Ocala, preaches for them once a month, 
and Dr. Tobey also preaches for them occasionally. The Pres- 
byterians expect to build a church in the near future, and haA^e 
employed Re\\ Henry Yerger to preach for them. The mem- 
bers of the Christian Church have organized themselves into a 
congregation, and Avill also build a house of Avorship soon. Elder 
J. M. Streator is their pastor in charge. On the south side the 
ReA^ Mr. McMahon, of the Cumberland Pi-esbyterian Church, 
preaches once a month. Rca'. Samuel Scott, of the Methodist 



62 HISTORY OF LAKE WEIE. 

Episcopal Church, has lately located on the north side, and 
preaches in the community occasionally. Thus Like Weir will 
be "well provided with churches and ministers. 

"You never will tinrl. 

Thoui^h you ti-avol afar, 
From the t)Id Rocky Mountains 

To where pj'rainids ai-e, 
A place more'delightful. 

Created to cheer. 
Than a home on the bluffs 

That look over Lake Weir. 

"They are beautiful spots 

In a beautiful clime. 
Where the health-,i>;iving breezes 

Arc almost divine. 
As thev come with tlieir kisses 

To comfort us hero 
In our d\vellin<>;s that stand 

( )u t!ie shores of Lake Weir." 

E. P. TURLNKY. 

Jyike Weir. 




LAKE WEIR AS A PERMANENT 
HOME. 

The following letter from General Robert Bullock, clerk of 
the court of Marion county, and one of Florida's most promi-- 
nent citizens, requires no comment : 

OcALA, Fla., August i;>, 1883. 
Mr. T. M. Shackleford, Like Weir, Fla.: 

My Dear Sir: — I understand you are preparing for publi- 
cation a description of Lake Weir, its ]-esources and advantages. 
I heartily approve of the enterprise, as it will be the means of 
attracting attention to a section that heretofore, from its isola- 
tion, has been little knoAvn. I first became acquainted with Lake 
Weir more than thirty-five years ago, and from my first sight of 
it I passionately admired it for. its surpassing beauty alone. But 
<ine family inhabited its shores when I first knew it. As the 
richer portions of Marion county settled up, Lake Weir gained 
an occasional settler. Those who settled in the more fertile por- 
tions of the county, suffered more or less with chills and fevers, 
the inseparable concomitants of all new countries. Diseases of a 
more malignant type Avere rarely known. The settlers on Lake 
Weir, without exception, escaped this universal plague— chill 
and fever — whereby it soon acquired the reputation of being a 
section absolutely free from malaria, and Avas resorted to during 
the summer months as a place of health and escape from chills. 
Within the last six or eight years Lake Weir has been settled 
with a class of the very best people from all sections of the 
United States, Avho live together in harmony and good feelings^ 



64 HISTORY OF LAKE WEIK. 

About four years ago I determined to make an orange grove 
at some healthy point, and, having an intimate knowledge of a 
very large portion of the orange belt, I cast about for a point 
offering the most advantages. After a careful survey of the 
whole field, I made my selection at Lake Weir, the place of my 
first love, where I have succeeded beyond my expectations, and 
they were pretty extravagant. With this experience, I have 
made up my mind to make Lake Weir my permanent home and 
to invest every dollar in its land that I can command, as I am 
entirely satisfied, since the Florida Southern Railway has taken 
in Lake Weir on its route to the Gulf, that property will con- 
tinue to advance in value in the vicinity for an indefinite period. 
The Peninsular Florida Railroad has realized ere this that it 
made a great mistake in not touching Lake Weir. Indeed, I am 
told that the company is now seriously considering the proposi- 
tion of extending a spur of its road to the lake. No one can 
doubt this who knows of the many hundreds of acres of orange 
trees, now in bearing and coming into bearing, on its shores. A 
very large number of the business men and others of Ocala Avill 
establish homes on the lake as soon as the railroad is completed 
there, or before another summer comes. 

With the best wishes foi- the success of your work, I am, 
Very truly, yours, 

R. Bullock. 




SUNLIGHT AND MOONLIGHT ON 
LAKE WIER. 



One afternoon in last June, while engaged at work among 
my orange trees, with the sun pouring down his fiercest rays, 
scarcely a breath of air stirring, the sky suddenly was overcast 
with dark clouds and the distant thunder was heard. Soon big 
drops of rain began to fall, slowly at first, then rapidly increasing 
in number until a heavy rain was coming doAvn. I retreated has- 
tily to the house. Safe within the shelter of my porch, I watched 
the rain fall with a glad heart. No rain had fallen for some 
days, and all vegetation was parching and suflTering for lack of 
water. Hoav eagerly the thirsty orange and lemon trees lifted 
up their drooping heads and drank in the falling rain-drops ! 
Looking towards the lake, I found I could no longer see across 
it. It was enveloped in clouds and mist. With the rain-drops 
falling on it, causing the white- capped waves to rise and break 
into pieces, it was not unlike the ocean. The rain came down 
for several hours, ceasing a short while before sunset. My wife 
and I walked down the avenue leading from the house through 
the orange grove to the margin of Little Lake Weir. The sky 
was still overcast Avith leaden-colored clouds, though the sun Avas 
doing his best to breakthrough. Occasionally he Avould succeed 
in piercing through for a moment, but it Avas for a moment only ; 
the clouds soon veiled his face again. The orange trees Avere 
dripping AA'ith moisture and glistening with rain-drops, and Avhen- 
■ever they Avere kissed by the sunbeams, appeared fresh and ra- 



66 HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. 

diant. Even the rugged oaks, with little rills of water run- 
ning down their bark, seemed to have awakened to new life. 
All vegetation was grateful for the refreshing rain. The air was 
fresh and pure. The lake was as smooth as a sheet of glass. 
Directing our eyes to the east we beheld a beautiful rainbow. 
Tlie colors were more brilliant and gorgeous than I had ever 
seen them before. This rainbow suggested to my mind the mytho- 
logical story of the American Indians in regard to the never- 
ending struggle f(n- supremacy between the spirit of light and , 
the spirit of darkness. Since the spirit of darkness, by means 
of his clouds, prevented the spirit of light or sun from sending 
his rays directly down, the latter, availing himself of his knowl- 
edge of the laws of refraction and reflection, in proud defiance 
had hung this beautiful bow in the sky. But my wife inter- 
rupted my- mythological reflections by calling my attention to 
the western horizon. The sun had at length succeeded in break- 
ing through the clouds, and the western sky was now " all aflame 
with crimson and gold." The sun was fast setting, but before 
he sank from sight he was painting a gorgeous picture. The 
prevailing color was a rich pink, verging upon orange color. 
Within this color strips of azure, deep blue, royal purple, crim- 
son and gold were intercalated. What rich colors and what 
striking contrasts ! How they tinged the waters of the lake un- 
til it became almost "a second sky"! How the colors came and 
went, now deepening, now paling! What weird and various 
forms the clouds assumed ! What wondrous castles and cathe- 
drals and palac33 they wrought ! How clearly the towers and 
minarets and richly stained and painted windows stood forth ! 
The sun is a royaf painter. No wonder Fancy ruled the hour 
and claimed me as her vassal. Lower and lower sank the sun 
until he was just above the tops of the pine trees on the other 
side of the lake, and was gilding them with his waning light. 
Just at this time a boat left the shore and the boatman began 
Avhistling a pretty air that harmonized well with the scene. I 
thought of Venice and the songs of the gondoliers. I know the 
Italian sunset is famed " in song and story." Poets have sung of 
it and painters have endeavored to paint it, but I cannot con. 
ceive how even the Italian sunset could surpass such a sunset as 
we gazed upon that June evening on Bright Moon Lake. True, 



HISTORY OP LAKE WEIR. QT 

it has not yet been permitted me to visit the classic shores of 
Italy, but I doubt whether I could find even there sunnier shores 
or more mellow-tinted skies than we have here in Florida. 
While gazing at this beautiful sunset, I thought of some of the 
descriptions of Hugh Miller, the poet-geologist, and wished that 
he, too, might behold it, so that he might make a word painting 
of it. But that cannot be. The painting of the j^icture awaits 
the coming of a John Burroughs or an Edith Thomas. 

We remained at the lake even after the picture had faded 
and the shadows of darkness had fallen. Still we sat there,, 
thinking of the beautiful picture and listening to the chirping 
of the crickets and the croaking of the frogs. Soon the moon 
and stars appeared, throwing their light upon the waters, which 
mirrored and reflected it again. Watching 

"The silver moon's enamoured beam 
8teal softly through the night," 

I glided into a dreamy mood and sat there silently. Again my 
companion interrupted me bv asking me for the verses I was- 
making. Now, I have no poetical claims whatever to assert, and 
fear that I am but an indifferent verse-maker, but the verses- 
were these: 

With sweet delight, this rare June night, 
I gaze on moon and stars so bright, 
And sweetly dream beneath their beam 
And revel in tlieir golden gleam. 

A gentle breeze comes from the seas 
And kisses orango-laden trees; 
Magnolias rai-e and flowers fair 
With balmy odors weight the air. 

A crystal slieet lies at my feet, 
While silver waves the margin greet ; 
The moonbeams throw far down below 
Their light on sands as pure as snow. 

The bright Lake Weir so calm and clear, 
Invites me to approac.ii more near ; 
Fair Orange Isle seeks to beguile 
Me with its most enchanting smile. 

I wistful stand npon the strand 

To-night in Flora's happj'^ land ; 

And sweetly dream while bright stars beam 

And revel in their golden gleam. 

Whippoorwills call from pin trees tall, 

And lazily the waters fall ; 

I loose my boat and idly float 

And soon have left the shore remote. 



SNAKES, MOSQUITOES, GNATS, ETC. 



The idea is prevalent among people of other States that 
Florida is the home and favorite haunt of all kinds of poison, 
ous snakes, deadly reptiles and troublesome insects. Especially 
is this thought to be true of the interior portion of the State. 
Not satisfied with picturing Florida as an overflowed, malarial, 
unhealthy swamp, they have now filled it, in imagination, with 
all kinds of pests and plagues. The seven plagues of Egypt 
dwindle into insignificance in comparison with the numerous 
j)lagues of Florida. Only a few days since I received a letter of 
inquiry in regard to Lake Weir, in which the following questions 
were asked : 

" How many chills does a fellow have and how often is he 
snake bitten before he becomes acclimated ? How many nights 
in the year can he sleep without a mosquito bar ? I am told that 
you raise enough snakes on a quarter section of land to fence it 
'in." 

The last suggestion is a good one. It solves the problem of 
how to have good and at the same time cheap fences. . The 
barbed wire fence will soon become a thing of the past. A 
snake fence ! The very name is suggestive. We will use a 
black racer for the bottom rail and a rattle-snake for the top. 
Security, protection, economy ! three in one. An enterprising 
South Florida man is abeady enriching and fertilizing his land 
with dead mosquitoes. Now he can fence it in with snakes. 
Great are the resources of Florida. Snake fences will put an 
end to watermelon stealing and prove a barrier in the way of 
our borrowing neig-hbors. We shall start a snake farm and grow 



HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. 69^ 

rich selling snakes for fence purposes. Henceforth ( ur watch- 
word shall be " Snake fences and reform." We will vote for no 
man who is not in favor of snake fences and does not so pro- 
claim himself on the stump. Down with monopolies and hurrah 
for snake fences ! There is but one small difficulty in our way... 
If snake fences are built on Lake Weir, the snakes will have to 
be imported here. But that is a small matter. My correspond- 
ent writes from Tennessee, and if he wishes to locate on Lake 
Weir and mud have a snake fence, I can refer him to localities 
in his own State where snakes can be found by making a thor- 
ough search for them. In this way he can collect a lot of snakes 
and bring them down with him. But my correspondent is in 
earnest and wants "the unvarnished truth." Then jesting aside- 
and au serieu.r. But, first, Truth has been varnished so often and 
the coating is so deep that I am afraid if Truth is presented in 
her " naked simplicity," the dre--is will be considered unfashion- 
able and poor, old-fashioned Truth be icquested to withdraw. 
I am truly sorry that I cannot tell the reader at least one Flor- 
ida snake story, as this is the "snake season." If I could only 
do this, my reputation for truthfulness would be established and 
I could secure a hearing. Candidly, then, there are fewer snakes . 
of any kind in this section of Florida than in any portion of the 
country of Tennessee with which I am acquainted. Others, from 
different States, living here say the same thing. Occasionally 
in clearing up or working new ground a snake is found and 
killed. I have never heard of any person on Lake Weir or in 
this vicinity being snake bitten. I am not sufficiently acquainted 
with the State to speak for Florida in general, and of my own 
personal knowledge can speak only as to the Lake Weir country. 
In the summer time we are troubled with two pests, gnats 
in the day-time and mosquitoes at night. But I have been 
troubled more with mosquitoes in Nashville, Chattanooga, or- 
Memphis than I have ever been on Lake Weir. I am informed 
that the gnats are not so troublesome here as they are in other 
States. By providing your house with wire-gauze dooi'S and win- 
dows, as many do, you can keep out the gnats and mosquitoes. 
and dispense with mosquito bars. We have very few house-flies . 
and no sand-flies. So much for the rejDtiles and insects of Lake ■ 
Weir. 



LAKE WEIR AS A FRUIT CENTRE. 



Beauty, health, climate and soil, realized and enjoyed by 
the many settlers Avho have located on this, the acknowledged 
most beautiful lake of Florida — with the great success attending 
the cultivation of the orange and lemon — have given to Lake 
Weir the well deserved, technical name in fruit-gi'owers' phrase- 
ology, of a fruit-centre. Geographically situated on the high, 
elevated water-shed of the peninsula, almost equi-distant from 
the Gulf and Atlantic, and midway north and south of that 
singularly favored portion of Florida, known as the orange belt, 
makes Lake Weir the centre of the fruit region. Yet its geo- 
graphical location does not entitle nor does it give to Lake Weir 
the appellation of a fruit centre. The blending in such perfect 
proportion by Nature of the four essential qualifications — beauty, 
healthfulness, climatic influences and a soil peculiarly adapted 
to the purpose for w'hich Nature designed it — orange groves — 
demonstrated by practical results, now being enjoyed — has made 
Lake Weir to-day recognized as possessing more of the essential 
elements to constitute a fruit-centre than any other place in 
Florida. But a few years ago Lake Weir was only know'n as a 
lake of beauty and the recognized summer sanitarium of the 
Florida Peninsula, i-esorted to by the wealthy citizens living in 
other less healthy portions of the country. At that time the 
great staple products of the South, cotton and sugar, held do- 
minion through the length and breadth of this country. A 
man's social status, almost his responsibility, depended uuon the 
extensive acreage of his cotton and sugar fields. But to-dav, 



HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. 71 

these great products, that once held sway over the brain and 
muscle of this fair land, have become as a thing of the past and 
now scarcely have a follower, except those who are either physi- 
cally or mentally incapacitated from throwing off' the drudgery 
and slavishness of agriculture to put on the higher, nobler and 
newer civilization of horticulture. The change from the ag- 
ricultural to the horticultural pursuits has been so rapid and at- 
tended with such unpai'allelled success that one can hardly re- 
alize the great results, evidenced through the area of the orange 
belt. Just at the time, when orange growing had been suffi- 
ciently developed in Florida to encourage the idea of a compe- 
tency in Avell directed labor in that direction, the tide of immi- 
gration came pouring into the peninsula. Lake Weir, on ac- 
count of its attractions, drew to its shores a number of those 
home-seekers, whose education and nature qualified them to ap- 
preciate the beautiful as well as the useful. And, as the new 
comer beheld for the first time the limpid waters of Lake Weir, 
with its pure, white sand beach, fringed with the majestic pine, 
magnolia and wide-spreading limbed live-oak, draped in that 
tropical garb of long moss, which, swayed by the gentle breeze 
that blew over the lake's sunny face, gave to Lake Weir a weird 
and singular beauty — a beauty not grand and awe-inspiring, 
like the lofty peaks of the Alleghanies, but a beauty soft and 
subdued, like the sweet face of innocent childhood — a beauty 
that poets sung of in fairy land, but only realized by those who 
have seen Lake Weir.— standing on one of those bold bluffs or 
gentle slopes, that overlook the lake, as he viewed the most 
beautiful gem in all that constellation of lakes of the lake re- 
gion of peninsular Florida — he could not but say "Eureka !" 
and feel that "here on this beautiful lake shore my home shall 
be." And, when the new settler wrote back to his old home, 
telling of the wondrous climate and the resources that lay as 
yet undeveloped, others came, until to-day on these bluffs and 
slojDes are the happy homes of as refined, intelligent and hospi- 
table people as can be boasted of in any other older portion of 
the world. But a few years elapsed after the first settlers had 
located and made permanent homes before it had become de- 
monstrated that the locality of Lake Weir possessed all the es- 
sentials necessary for successful fruit-growing. Not only on ac- 



i 2 HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. 

count of its beautiful surroundings and its recognized healthful- 
ness, but its great freedom from those disastrous colds that some- 
times occur, destroying the hopes of fruit-growers in less favored- 
localities of Florida. When these facts were verified by actual 
tests and experience, and the settlers, feeling a perfect security 
in the future, with duty performed, settled down into that feel- 
ing of contentment and faith in their work and with a determi- 
nation to make Lake Weir just what its natural advantages en- 
titled it to be — a fruit centre; when the demands of that society, 
which had settled on the shores of Lake Weir, established 
churches, schools and social life with all pleasant surroundings, 
adding all these to jS"ature's gifts and making life as pleasant as 
ever dreamed of in Utopian world; when the brain of the white 
man and the brain of the black man had twined the beauties of 
Lake Weir, without marring its atti-actions, into channels of 
wealth; when energy had crowned with the orange and lemon 
those bluifs and slopes overlooking the bright, crystal waters of 
the Seminoles' Amaskohegan: when the golden fruited trees had 
sent their harvest of health-giving fruit into the cities, and the 
gold of the cities had returned to fill the hands of the fruit- 
growers; when residence here had brought the rosy dimple to 
childhood's cheek; when the youthful step had returned to 
manhood, and the brows that had been clouded and the cheeks 
that were furrowed by life's battle in other places had been 
smoothed by the pleasant every day, and bright hopes of the 
future now realized ; when all this had been accomplished by 
life on our beautiful lake, then Amaskohegan, the Bright Moon 
Lake of the Lidian, now the Lake Weir of civilization, accept- 
ed as rightfully its own the appellation, a fruit-centre. 

John L. Carney. 
Lake Weir. 



HOW TO MAKE AN ORANGE OR 
LEMON GROVE. 

This question would, indeed, be a knotty one, were I to un- 
dertake to go into full details so as to fill every man's bill ex- 
actly, who has or proposes to have an orange or lemon grove in 
the State. I will venture to say there are no two accomplished 
groves in the State that have had exactly the same treatment, 
or are likely to get it ; and more than likely they would not 
have thriven as well as they have done Avith the same manage- 
ment. Two pieces of land, either hammock or pine, to all out- 
side appearances may be exactly the same class of land, same 
kinds of timber and surface soil, yet they may be quite different 
as to sub-soils. Clay, marl, red, yellow or white sand, and some- 
times hard-pan, may underlie one and not the other. And, with 
the soils all the same, the lands, in all probability, will not have 
the same exposures, wind-breaks, etc. Each and all of these 
lands would require some different management from the other. 
So I Avill not attempt to say how every grove in the State, county, 
or even in a very small section of the county, should be worked ; 
but will give a few general suggestions and leave each man to 
fill in or take out, as it is likely to suit his own individual case 
best. 

To parties who already own lands my advice as to selection 
of lands for groves is not apt to have much bearing. They 
would say ray neighbor, A or B, has one or two fine trees 
about his house and his soil is similar to mine, at least as far as 



74 HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. 

•aj)pearanccs go (and grant that it is so in reality), and I will 
risk it, forgetting tliat those fine special trees get such attention 
and protection that would be impossible to be given to a grove 
of any size. Bo it is only parties who arc yet to buy lands that 
are likely to need any information on this ])oint, first as to both 
importance and necessity. In selecting land for a grove, look 
first for a healthy location, the greatest of all considerations, for 
without health life is not enjoyable anywhere ; then, to the so- 
ciety, so that your family will be pleasantly situated ; next, to 
the transportation, so that when your. grove comes into bearing 
you will not have long distances to haul to a station or landing- 
then, to the surroundings of the land, if it has not already nat- 
ural beauty, is capable of being made attractive. You may not 
think so much about beauties in starting a grove, and in the ma- 
jority of cases a home, too ; the hog and hominy question may 
be pressing too strongly on your mind. Yet, when your grove 
begins to pan out its hundreds and thousands of boxes of golden 
fruit, you will then turn your attention to ornamenting and 
beautifying. My first choice of soils, when the above questions 
have been fairly settled, would be a soil as rich as possible in 
humus, with a subsoil of yellow sand from five to twenty feet in 
depth, with no objections to it being deeper. Land rolling 
than otherwise, so as to give natural drainage, supposing that 
the underlying clay or other hard base, upon Avhich the surface 
water would finally sink, would have the same inclination as the 
surface above. Lands with clay or marl within eighteen inches 
or two feet of the surface are claimed by some to hold manures 
better than deeper soils. To this I do not agree. The deeper 
the sand is before striking hard soil, the less liable the soil is to 
wash on the surface, and, if the manure washes down into the 
soil, as some claim, then I have no fears that my orange and 
lemon trees will not get the benefit of it all, as the roots do not 
have to go through clay, marl or hard pan to reach it. Whoever 
doubts trees getting the benefit of any manures applied upon 
deep sandy soils, on account of their supposed leeching, let him 
try to reach the taproot of a tree standing for eight or ten years; 
and, if he will tackle this job on a July day, I will guarantee 
he will be satisfied long before he reaches the end of the taproot 



HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. 10 

that no food would ever escape, however deep it might sink, 
those thousands of little feeders. For 2-ai'dens, truck ixnd 2,-en- 
eral farming I do not object to clay near the surface, hut an 
orange or lemon tree is different from a corn stalk, tomato or 
Avatermelon vine. Trees upon these deep subsoils will stand 
storms and scA^ere droughts better than the more shallow surface- 
rooted trees. I have seen this thoroughly tested several times in- 
my eight years' experience in orange groves here. After having 
bought your land, the next thing to be done is to clear it and 
make ready for putting out trees. If you have bought ham- 
mock land and are in no hurry about getting your trees out, or 
if you wish to grow your own stock, then it would be best to 
deaden your forest trees one and a half or two years before be- 
ginning to clear it up properly. If your land is extra strong- 
hammock, vv'ith neither plenty of altitude nor water protec- 
tion, then it would be well enough to leave three or four forest 
trees per acre as a protection against cold ; it matters not if you 
are " below the frost line." The live-oak is of a slow growth, 
consequently Avill sap your young trees less than most of the 
other hammock trees. The magnolia is the neatest hammock 
tree, and would be quite ornamental as well as useful in the 
grove. Hammock so deadened is much more easily cleared af- 
terwards, and but a few of the trees ever sprout or sucker after- 
wards, which is a consideration in a new hammock grove. Many, 
in clearing hammock land, cut the timber, roll the logs, pile the 
brush, shrub the ground, then burn everything. A better plan 
in the long run, though it does not look so neat for several years, 
is to cut your timber, and not cut the logs too long, burn the 
bnish and shrubs, then stake off your ground where your rows 
and trees are to be. Now pile the logs between every third or 
fourth row of trees and let them remain a year or two ; then 
at a leisure time, if you should ever find that time with an 
orange or lemon grove, change logs to the next row of 
trees, and you will be astonished every time you change 
your logs what an amount of the very best fertilizers 
you have on the ground. About the third or fourth changing 
of the logs will about swap you out, and you will have only a 
few live-oaks and heart bays left. They_^will stay with you and 



76 HISTORY OF LAKE WEIK. 

be something that you can always swear by " in the sweet by 
and by." If it is pine land that you have invested in, then I 
Avould rather cut clean and burn everything that is not 
suitable for boards, rails, or mill timber, if you are near 
a mill. Where parties are able, in first starting a grove, an 
excellent plan is this, especially Avhere pine land is used ; 
it saves after work and work that cannot be done as 
well, when trees are set and roots running all through the soil, 
as before. Instead of cutting the trees off above ground, cut be- 
low (two feet or more, as it may suit) the taproot, and all the 
lateral roots on the same side. Probably by the time you have 
cut half way through the taproot the tree will be ready to fall ; 
now, by placing a short log close up to the tree it acts with great 
lever power, and the tree in falling flirts many big side roots out 
of the ground. Most of the hammock stumps will rot after a 
few years, but j)ine will not, is why it is more necessary to treat 
pine rather than hammock in this way in clearing. Now stake 
off your ground, as with the hammock, drive the stakes well into 
the ground ; if you do not, they are liable to be moved out of 
line by a careless hand in digging the holes. Have, if possible, 
the holes dug several months before ready for use, so as to let 
them settle back to the level as near as possible, and it will save 
trouble in planting your trees, being less liable to plant too high 
or too low. Dig holes six or eight feet across the top, use a long 
hammock or grubbing hoe, and have an old axe along, so as to 
get out the larger roots. Loosen up the ground thoroughly, and 
take all tree or vine roots out. If you have any well-rotted sta- 
ble manure put a small quantity in each hole and mix well with 
soil ; if not, home-made manure ; then from one to one and a 
half pounds of weak (but I reckon most all of it is loeak enough) 
commercial fertilizer. The next question of importance is the 
selection of trees for the grove. This questiion has been discussed 
in our State papers, mainly from two standpoints. By some nurs- 
ery-man or jjarty here, who had a certain class of trees for sale, 
or from the experience of parties had in j^lanting out peaches, 
apples, etc., in the more northern, and frequently the most north- 
ern States. The first standjDoint needs no pointers, and the sec- 
ond will not do to rely upon altogether, for an orange or lemon 



HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. 7/ 

grove. For it frequently happens that parties who have owned 
and understood the working of orchards of apples, pears, etc., in 
the other States, move here and are out-stripped, until they are 
willing to unlearn many things by the regular Cracker, who, in 
all probability, has never seen an apple or pear tree, and knows 
nothing about the theoretical part of fruit-growing. All, or 
nearly all, of these parties have advocated planting small budded 
stock both for the lemon and orange, claiming the fruit to be 
better, and the trees to be much longer lived, and to produce a 
prettier and better tree generally. Now, my experience with 
budded trees has been with all sizes. I have budded and trans- 
pla .ted trees from one-fourth of an inch up to six and eight 
inches in diameter, and have budded and left standing trees 
from one-fourth of an inch up to fifteen inches in diameter, and 
they are all bearing. My preference now, if not over-flushed 
with finances, in putting out a new grove of budded trees, would 
be a good large stock from two to four inches in diameter, with 
a g eyish bark, and from a not over-stimulated nursery, and the 
soil similar to that upon which I wanted to plant. If able, I 
would prefer a tree just coming into bearing, though the stock 
might be an inch or so larger, even if I paid from $5 to $10 per 
tree, and could get them close by. One of my neighbors, who has 
about 95 large bearing trees, which he bought and set out this past 
spring, paying $5 per tree for them, says he will get about ten 
boxes of good oranges from them this fall, and in two more years 
they Avill certainly pay for themselves and all expenses of culti- 
vation, etc., up to that time. Four years ago this j^ast spring I 
planted about 700 unbudded sour trees, all the way up in size 
from an inch to six or eight inches in diameter. The larger 
ones were in condition to be budded the same summer, and the 
others were a year, and some two years, before they would take 
a bud. Some of these larger trees bore last year a box per tree. 
The smaller ones will be from two to three years yet in doing 
the same. If one is not able to buy these larger trees in start- 
ing a grove, then, of course, he has to "cut his garment accord- 
ing to his cloth," and take smaller trees, and be a little longer 
time getting a bearing grove. Most all sweet seddling orange 
trees in the State produce a very passable orange, and many of 



78 HISTOEY OF LAKE WEIE. 

them as fine or finer than the im^Dorted budded varieties. I 
would advise farmers, or other persons, Avho have not a natural 
knack at working with trees, in putting out trees around their 
premises, or small groves, to use the sweet seedling tree from 
the seed of the best sweet seedling to be had ; to gfet trees well 
grown and vigorous, from four to six years old, if able; if not, 
then even begin from the seed, as I have done with many of my 
trees. If in after years any special fine variety is introduced, 
and you laioic that it brings better prices than your fruit, is just 
as prolific, as good shippers, etc., then, with j^our trees already 
standing, it will be easy to cut oft' the tops gradually from year 
to year and insert buds of this better kind. The trees so cut off 
ought to begin to pay again in three years from the cutting oft". 
Very few of the regular nurserymen in the State advocate planting 
sweet seedling trees. It is much better to get the sour or other 
seed, plant and bud them, than to get the fi-uit from the best 
sweet seedling trees in the State and plant the seed. Most of the 
fruit of such trees is spoken for a year or so ahead by some neigh- 
borhood nurseryman. 

The lemon sprouts badly from the seed, and the only way to 
get reliable and uniform fruit is to bud it. I have used and 
seen used stocks of almost all the species of the citrus family, 
that are common to the State for budding the lemon into, but 
prefer the sour orange stock for this purpose to all others. It 
makes more of a tree on this stock with less of a bush about it 
than upon some of the other stocks, and even on its own. 

All things considered, from the 15th of January to the 15th 
of February is the best time for general planting. I have tried 
every month in the year, and, where there are only a few trees 
to be j^ut out and extra attention can be given them, then you 
can select your own time and overcome the objections by extra 
care. Get your trees from the parties or nurserymen nearest to 
you, provided they have the kind wanted. Let the trees be put 
in their permanent places just as soon as possible after coming 
out of the ground. Avoid, if possible, planting out trees on 
very windy days. Keep trees and roots from being exposed to 
wind or sun. I consider the wind as bad as the sun in damaging 
trees out of the ground. Keep the roots damp until you get 



HIHTORY OF LAKE WEIR. 79 

them ill the ground again. Be very particular that you do not 
get the tree too deep ; nine out of ten new beginners will put 
them so. It would be better to get some man who understands 
the business to do the work for you than to run the risk of mak- 
ing a let of it. The trees should be put from one to one and a 
half inches above the general surface level ; they will finally 
settle to about the level. All broken or hackled roots should be 
cut off smoothly with a knife before being planted out. The 
lateral roots should be spread out nicely, so that they will be as 
near like they were before their removal from the nursery as 
possible. When the tree is about halfway filled in, pour in a 
bucket of water, and, if water is plentiful, put in two buckets, 
to settle the roots Avell. When you finish putting dirt around 
the tree, pour in enough water to settle it well, i^fter the water 
has dried out, rake dry dirt up to the tree, so as to be three or 
four inches deep on top of the roots ; make a rim around this 
dirt, a little beyond where the tree roots extend, so that it will 
leave the ground around the tree in a saucer shape. ISTow, to 
save the trouble of pulling the dirt from the tree every time it 
needs Avatering, I put moss or mulch of most any kind in this 
saucer around the tree and pour the water in, and it needs no 
farther attention. The saucer holds all the water and the mulch 
does not let the sun bake the dirt around the tree. ' If the trees 
grow very vigorously, then enlarge the digging around the trees, 
so as to let the young roots have plenty of loose dirt to run in. 
Next season, if the mulch is not all rotted and the saucer washed 
down by rains, then take out the mulch and work the saucer 
down to the level of the ground. There is no danger upon suit- 
able orange land of giving a young tree, the first year out, too 
much water ; nor trees of any age, as for that, only trees after 
the first year do not require to be watered to keep life in them, 
yet they would certainly do much better to have extra drench- 
ings other than from the clouds, many times during the year. 
The great necessity for some way of supplying our fruit trees 
with plenty of water in blooming season and farther on, to kee]> 
the fruit from cracking, is not yet seen by our fruit-growers, but 
it will certainly force itself upon the fruit sections at no distant 
day. 



80 HISTORY OF LAKE WEIK. 

Some plow the groves the first year out. Where ground is 
very rooty a jumping coulter is used in front of the bull-tongue 
or twister on the same stock. Others use the hoe only, the first 
year, to keep grass and weeds down, and by the next year many 
of the small roots have rotted and the land is more easily 
plowed. I am not as much of an advocate noAV as formerly of 
planting peas in the grove between the rows as a -fertilizer. If 
planted at all, it would be the second and third years. During 
the first year let the sourness be worked out of the new land. 
The two following years peas can be j)lanted several times 
during the year and turned under the best you can, just before 
they begin to run. The Georgia clay stock running pea is best 
for this purpose. After the third year the young tree roots 
will have filled the ground pretty well, if trees have done as ^ 
they should do, and it will be impossible to plow deep enough 
to turn under pea-vines without disturbing many of the orange 
tree roots. I object to letting the vines cover the ground and 
remain until fall; for it brings the tree roots near the surface and 
makes the destruction of orange roots very great when you put the 
plow in again, enough to over-balance the benefit derived from 
the vines. And you are sure to get a big seeding of grass and 
weeds, in spite of all you can do. 

Unless you have started your grove upon extra good, rich 
land, the trees will have to be fertilized. My experience with 
fertilizers has been very limited, but, from what I can learn, 
natural, home-made manures, or those composted at home and 
of which you know the ingredients, are to be much preferred to 
any ready-mixed commercial fertilizers. 

Be careful not to let your trees get a stunt, which they are 
more likely to do the first year; for it is a hard matter to ever 
get them into a vigorous growth again. If you have used sweet 
seedlings, do not have but one stem or body to the tree, and 
keep all water-shoots off near the ground, Prune very little 
until the trees are almost ready to bear, then prune up four or 
five feet, or as you like, and, if necessary, thin out small dead 
branches inside. If you are making a budded grove, you Avill 
have to begin pruning early to make pretty symmetrical trees. 
They are more inclined to make straggling, lop-sided trees than 



HISTORY OF LAKE WEIE. 81" 

seedlings. If your trees have buds in them when put out, so 
much the better, but, if you have just put out the stock and in- 
tend budding afterwards, my plans are as follows: I like a 
stock of about four feet in height to start with. AVhen the 
stocks are from one-fourth up to one inch in diameter, it is well 
enough to put the bud in the main body, if the tree has not been 
kept vigorous and not allowed to become hard and bark-bound. 
Most of the trees of this size put out in groves are best budded 
the following year after put out. Very little is gained in bud- 
ding trees of this kind the first year, unless they are extra 
vigorous. Where the stock is from one inch up in diameter, I 
prefer budding into a new shoot near the top of stock, two or 
three of such shoots having been permitted to grow especially 
for this purpose. All the balance of the shoots on the tree hav- 
ing been kept off throws all the sap into these special shoots, and 
buds are much more likely to take in such wood and make fas- 
ter growth than when budded into the main stock. The larger 
tke stock, the sooner you will get buds to take in them ; they 
have more vitality than smaller trees. I use as many eye 
buds as possible and only use sprig buds to save wood, or 
where the eye buds cannot be used. For eye buds I cut 
the slot out the tree in T shape, but with the T inverted. 
When the bud is put in, this sheds the water more than when the 
cross line is cut above, instead of below, and the bud is less lia- 
ble to sour and die ; that is where you do not use wax, and I do 
not. The sprig bud does not take so well, makes an uglier limb 
and, where trees are to be removed, is much more liable to be 
broken out than an eye bud. I like good round wood for bud- 
ding ; about the size of a lead pencil is the best size for most 
purposes. Beginning with the butt end of the twig, so as to get 
the bud in the tree with the eye up, I try to cut buds about an 
inch long using the wood until it begins to get angular for eye 
buds ; the balance of the limb I either use for sprig buds or 
throw away, depending to a certain extent how scarce budding 
wood is. If budding sprig buds during the rainy season, I 
push the sprig up and around the stock, instead of down- 
ward, as is generally practiced. This avoids leaving a pocket to 
catch water and sour the bud. In budding from February to 



82 HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. 

October, I find February, August and September to be the most 
successful months. I never use wax or waxed cloth, strings or 
rags for ties for eye buds, but use the heart leaves of palmetto, 
after having been dried by sun or fire enough to make them pli- 
ant. They are not so liable to water-sob buds as rags, to cut into 
thrifty trees as strings, nor as ti'oublesome and expensive as 
waxed rags. Force out your buds by topping off tree or shoots 
five or six inches above the bud, and with a knife cut out all the 
natural eyes of the stock that are above the bud. If you can- 
not force the buds out by the first of August, it would be best to 
let them remain dormant and start them early the next spring ; 
by forcing out late in the summer or fall they cannot harden up 
much before winter, and, if it should be a cold one, it might 
catch the buds napping. As soon as the bud has come out from 
five to eight inches and is liable to be blown off, cut off the end 
two or three inches. This hardens up the bud and it puts out 
several branches. As soon as these get from eight to ten inches 
long, cut them off. Continue this cutting back for four or five 
times, or through the first year. It saves trouble in tying up 
the buds to stakes and makes a close and symmetrical tojD, more 
like a seedling. If the stocks should be in the nursery do not 
top and leave in nursery longer than ten days before taking up. 
If you do, then leave them for another season, and two years 
would be better. I think this accounts for many budded trees, 
with buds from a few months to a year old, not doing so well, 
taken from nurseries when the buds have been forced out by tak- 
ing the top off the stock. If you are anxious to force out buds 
before taking up trees, then, if you will cut the stock two-thirds 
or three-fourths off a tew inches above the bud and bend it down 
on the opposite side from the bud and take all the eyes out of 
the stock above the bud, you will generally force the bud with- 
out the bad results of an entire top-oft'. However, if on account 
of the trouble in working bent down trees when in a nursery, or 
for any other reason, it suits you better to top off' the stock en- 
tirely, then, when topped, take a large tree chisel or long shai'p 
spade and cut most of the lateral roots around the tree, just as if 
you were taking the tree up, but leave the taproot uncut. Healthy 
trees are all Avell balanced as to tops and roots, and when you cut 



HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. 83 

the tops off and leave them Avithout cutting the roots any, the 
roots will die off, so as to restore the equilibrium between the top 
and roots, and in so doing will, to a certain extent, become dis- 
eased. When root-pruned as above, or taken up and trans- 
planted, the top and roots are nearly balanced and they are soon 
ready to assist each other in their natural way, without any 
shrinkage of sap-vessels in the tree or roots, Avhen there is too 
much top for the roots, or gorging of sap-vessels when there are 
too many roots for the top. 

Xow, by the time a^ou have worked Avith your grove long 
enough to have given most of the suggestions in this article a 
practical test, your grove Avill have been a success or failure ; and 
by that time you will have learned many practical things and 
unlearned many more pet theoretical ideas, that you once had 
about making a grove, etc. You will then be so elated over 
your success, or dejected over your failure, that farther sugges- 
tions in either case from any source Avould be of little use, 

E. L. Carney. 
Lahe Weir. 

In conversation Avith Mr. Carney, he informed me that an 
orange grove in full bearing ought to yield a return of $1,000 
per acre. Instead of being an unreasonable, extravagant esti- 
mate, he says that this is a moderate and rea'sonable one. He 
has trees not in full bearing that produce 1,000 oranges to the 
tree. As remarked before, Mr. Carney's oranges haA^e netted 
him, on an aA^erage, two cents jaer orange. This giA^es him a re- 
turn of $20 per tree for his oldest trees. I knoAV that this ap- 
pears to be a fancy calculation, but Mr. Carney demonstrates 
every year that it is real and practicable. He does not claim 
that every orange groA^e in Florida Avill pay this Avell, but that, 
all the conditions to orange culture being faA'orable, Avith good 
trees and a choice A^ariety of oranges to start Avith, by giving 
them proper care and attention, an orange groA-e can be made to 
pay this Avell. He has no fears Avhatever of the OA'er-production 
of choice oranges and the consequent decrease in prices. But he 
would earnestly advise those Avho are about to start an orange 
gi'ove, to plant none but the very best varieties of oranges, if they 
Avish to ahvays receive fancy prices for their fruit. I have not 



84 HISTORY OF LAKE WEIR. 

the space here to discuss this question of the over-production of 
oranges, but will state that I fully agree with Mr. Carney upon 
this subject. The reader will find this question ably discussed 
by other writers. 

Lemon culture is quite as profitable as orange culture. The 
lemon tree is tenderer than the orange tree and cannot be 
grown as far north ; consequently, the area in Florida that can 
be devoted to lemon culture is smaller than the orange area. 
The lemon tree is a more rapid groAver and a heavier bearer 
than the orange tree. Mr. Carney is one of the pioneers in 
lemon culture in Peninsular Florida, and is a firm believer in 
the culture of lemons for profit. He informed me that he had a 
lemon tree on his homestead that was put out four years ago last 
winter, a dormant bud and a one-inch tree. Last Avinter he 
gathered one thousand lemons from it. Of course this tree had 
done exceptionally Avell, and will not do to be taken as an aver- 
age tree. The forty -five acre lemon grove on Lemon Island, the 
twenty-five acre lemon grove of " The Lake Weir Company," 
and various other smaller lemon groves, prove that the Lake 
Weir country is not too cold for lemon culture. 

When our orange and lemon groves are bringing in such 
handsome returns and our truck farming paying so well, is it 
strange that Ave should prefer arboriculture and horticulture to 
agriculture ? 




MARKET-GARDENING ON LAKE 
WEIR. 



For want of proper transportation, market-gardening on Lake 
Weir has thus far been carried on only to a limited extent. 
Enough, however, has been accomplished to demonstrate be- 
yond any doubt that, with two railroads giving us cheap, quick 
transportation, vegetables can and will be grown here hence- 
forth to great advantage and profit. The light, loamy ham- 
mock land On the lake is the gardener's beau-ideal of vegetable 
soil, and the wonderful growth that all vine crops make on it, 
without any fertilizers, proves that it is pre-eminently adapted 
to vegetable growing. And, when properly enriched, the pine 
lands have produced as fine vegetables as any market can 
boast. All authorities on market-gardening tell us that "no 
soil is naturally rich enough to produce first-class vegetables 
without manure." Peter Henderson, the great New York gar- 
dener, in his book on "Gardening for Profit," tells us that he ap- 
plies from " a thousand to twelve hundred pounds of Peruvian 
guano or seventy-five tons of stable manure to one acre," and 
that too on land that he has been enriching at the same rate for 
many years. Thus we see that natural fertility is of secondar}^ 
consideration. Peter Henderson also tells us that "up North" 
a market-gardener's success dejieuds almost entirely upon his 
proximity to cities; that "a gardener had better pay $50 or 
even $100 rent per acre for land near a good market, than have 
the same class of land a few miles off for nothing." Water is to 



86 HISTOllY OF LAKE WEIR. 

the Florida gardener what the city is to his Northern brother; 
for his chances ofsuccess vary according to his proximity to 
and facilities for aj^plying an abundance of water to his grow- 
ing crops. About three in five years the seasons are propitious, 
and vegetables are grown all over the State to perfection; but 
about two out of five years a dry spell strikes the. crops just at 
the critical period, when they are beginning to put on fruit, and 
all such vegetables as cucumbers, beans, &c., very soon succumb 
and often prove a total failure. But, with plenty of manure and 
plenty of water, success is as certain as taxes, and a Florida 
Revenue Collector never .fails to pay his annual respects. Sever- 
al years ago, when we had to depend on the Ocklawaha steamers 
for transportation. Captain Carney planted one-third of an acre 
in tomatoes and netted seventy dollars from the same. Carney's 
success shook us all up , like a galvanic battery, and even the 
old fogies began to prick up their ears; for our groves Avere 
young and paying nothing, but sucking uj) what little capital 
we had. It was certainly a hard time then, for it was often dif- 
ficult for us to tell where the next barrel of flour was coming 
from. We thought Carney had solved the problem, and conse- 
quently the next year everyone rushed into vegetables. How- 
ever, we reversed Peter Henderson's mode of applying manure, 
and, instead of applying seventy -five tons to one acre, we applied 
one ton to seventy -five acres. Yet, surprising to say, we all made 
good crops of very fine vegetables. Everyone had a smile on his 
face, and some old bachelors actually bought Sunday clothes 
and got married on the strength of their j)rospects. But, alas ! 
the steamboat gave the death blow to all our hopes. Instead 
of two boats a week, we had what the Irishman called a "^r^z-weekly** 
steamer, which went down one week and tried to get bach the 
next. We made the vegetables and shipped them by the hun- 
dred crates, but they were many weeks getting to market, and, 
consequently, we realized no money. Market-gardening was, of 
course, abandoned, and the newly married couples had nothing 
to live on but love and goj^hers. Last year the Tropical Peniii- 
sular Railroad was completed to within three miles of Lake 
Weir, and many planted vegetables again on a small scale with 
fair success. From $50 to $100 per acre was netted on tomatoes. 



HISTORY OF LAKE WEIE. 87 

Oue gentleman planted an acre of cucumbers near the lake 
and rigged up an inexpensive, rude affair, with Avhich he could 
water his patch fronthe lake, and netted over two hundred dollars 
on his patch, while other cucumbers unwatered proved a complete 
failure on account of the drought. He knew little or nothing 
about gardening, and made several mistakes, applying only a 
few dollars' worth of very poor commercial fertilizers, and mak- 
ing the ground up into high beds or ridges, thereby causing the 
water to run off almost as fast as apjDlied. Early cucumbers sell at 
from $4 to $6 per crate, and one acre, properly fertilized, worked 
and watered, will make several hundred crates of first-class cu- 
cumbers. There is no doubt in my mind that an experienced 
gardener, with plenty of fertilizers and water, can, on Lake Weir, 
net one thousand dollars per acre on cucumbers. I say on Lake 
Weir, because it is an acknowledged fact that tender vegetables 
are less liable to be injured by a cold snap on the lake than even 
a few miles from it. The lake being very deep, a warm vapor 
rises from it that often carries tender vegetables safely through 
a cold snap, when they are injured, and even killed, many miles 
south of us. For example, in 1877, orange trees at Tampa were 
reported badly ni]3j)ed by the cold, when the tenderest lemon 
buds on Lake Weir showed no sign of cold. It is, therefore, safe 
to calculate that the gardener on Lake Weir would get his ten- 
der vegetables into market a week or ten days before his neigh- 
bors, and early vegetables always command fancy prices. To- 
matoes are the staple, crop, for, while they never pay fancy fig- 
ures, like cucumbers, onions, etc., they can be safely counted on, 
with proper management, to pay from $50 to $150 net per acre. 
Snap beans pay about like tomatoes, and the crop is made and 
over with in two months. I have seen no onions grown for mar- 
ket on Lake Weir, but my neighbor, Dr. Thomson, planted 
some of the Bermuda onion seed, of Dr. Tucker's importation, 
for home use, and raised some of the finest onions I ever saw, of 
both the red and Avhite variety. Last fall the Rev. Mr. Scott 
rented three acres of land on Lake Weir, Avhich he planted in 
tomatoes and watermelons. He told me that he netted $300 on 
his crop. Mr. T. F. Wright, Judge Benson, and many others 
have succeeded quite as well at market gardening as any I have 



88 HISTORY OF L'AKE WEIR, 

mentioned, but the above is sufficient to shoAV what can be done, 
and is written in no manner of boasting, for we have certainly- 
made a botch of it. An experienced gardener Avould laugh at 
our efforts, and be sorely jDuzzled to know how, with our rude 
cultivation and rough handling, we could clear expenses. Na- 
ture has certainly bestowed her richest blessings on Lake Weir 
with a lavish hand. What more could a market gardener want 
in the way of land and location than one of the beautiful bluffs 
or gentle slopes that surround this lovely lake of clear, crystal 
water, from which he can draw a never-failing supply? Here 
he can render himself independent of the fickle and capricious 
seasons, and can enjoy perfect health, free from all malarial dis- 
eases, with facilities of cheap and quick transportation, and veg- 
etables selling for as much per crate as oranges, with advantages 
of excellent schools, churches and good society, with his pockets 
full of money, and his happy, healthy, rosy-cheeked children 
romping around him. In conclusion, I will answer a question 
that has been asked hundreds of times. " How can a man sup- 
port himself and family on Lake Weir until he can bring an 
orange grove into bearing?" Heretofore the answer has been, 
" I don't know. If you have not money enough to live on for 
eight years, stay where you are." But the Tropical Peninsular 
and Florida Southern railroads enable us now to give a very dif- 
ferent answer. Plant vegetables. If a man has enough money 
to buy ten acres on Lake Weir, clear, fence and set it out in 
orange or lemon trees, and build a cottage, and then has not 
enough energy to plant melons, beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc., 
between the tree rows, and derive therefrom a handsome living 
for himself and family, he is certainly a worthless fellow, and 
does not deserve to live anywhere. 

Eespectfully, Alfred Ayer. 



GRAPE CULTURE ON LAKE WEIR. 

T. M. ShacJdeford, Esq.: 

Dear Sir : — At your request, 1 seud you a few lines giving 
briefly my experience in cultivating the grape here on the lake. 
Five years ago last fall, in 1877, I brought a few Delaware and 
Concord vines with me from Nebraska, and early in the follow- 
ing spring, as soon as the brush and timber could be cleared 
away, planted them where they now stand. They made a fair 
growth without fertilizers. The vines were well cut back in the 
winter and the cuttings planted out. And here let me say that 
in Florida, with proper care, cuttings of the vine root freely, and 
you may count on more than double the number of vines from 
a given number of cuttings that you can either in the North or 
West. The vines were lightly fertilized and well cultivated, 
and gave us a few grapes the second year, and have continued to 
bear heavy crops ever since. In the meantime, I added other 
varieties, of which I will speak hereafter. For fertilizers, the 
sweepings of the yard and cow^ stable are excellent. Ashes are 
also good. Of the various commercial fertilizers, I prefer bone 
dust, containing from two to three per cent, of ammonia, apjjlied 
at the rate of from three hundred to five hundred pounds i)er 
acre, and cultivated in. If potash is needed and ashes cannot 
be obtained, the suljihate, or even the muriate, of potash, made 
fine and mixed with land plaster, or lime, and scattered lightly 
over the soil just before a rain, will answer. But these salts 



90 HISTORY OF ]:ake weik. 

must be used with caution. Tiie Scuppernong family of grapes 
do well here with little care, requiring little or no pruning and 
only moderate cultivation and an arbor to run on. From a vine 
planted five years ago I gathered the other day, August the 6th, 
of the ripest, four bushel-'!, and did not take one-half of the 
grapes from the vine, the others being left to mature more ful- 
ly. They make excellent jelly, and are also very fine, when 
fully ripe, canned in the usual way. I am often asked if I have 
ever gathered two crops of grapes in one year? This question 
and some others I will answer by copying from notes which I 
have by me, a portion of which have already appeared in 1 he 
Florida Dispatch. During the first week of January, 1882, 1 
cut from my vines three varieties of ripe grapes, the Goethe, 
Delaware and a variety the name of which is unknown to me. 
These grew during the fall and matured the first of January, no 
frost appearing to hurt them. In May and June following, not- 
witlistanding the sharp drought, I gathered a very heavy crop 
from the same vines, including also the Hartford Prolific, Dela- 
ware, White Sweetwater, Concord, Goethe, and others, and later, 
Agawam, Morton's Virginia and Reissling. The earlier varie- 
ties shed their leaves after fruiting, and rested about six weeks 
in July and August, during the rainy season, then started out 
fresh again and bloomed freely. Some vines matured the last 
of November from thirty to forty bunches, some a very few, and 
others none. My vines are growing on pine land, with no extra 
care, excepting good cultivation. I have never seen vines fruit 
better, either in the North or West, or produce larger or finer 
bunches, and though they are cut back to two, or at most three, 
buds every winter, they are apt to overbear. The leaf-roller is 
the principal enemy we have to contend with, and on the thick- 
leaved varieties must be closely watched. The most of my vines 
are from layers and cuttings, but I have grafted the Black Ham- 
burg, Muscat of Alexandria, Malaga, White SAveetwater and 
Riessling all on the wild " Bullace " root, and the most of them 
made a very remarkable growth, often sending out a main cane 
from twenty to thirty feet in length the first season, besides nu- 
merous side branches. The first three varieties named mildewed 
with me, though I used no remedies to prevent it. The White 
Sweetwater and Reissling have fruited heavily in less than 



IlISTOKY OK I.AKK WKII!. I>1 

eighteen iiio)tths from the graft, iiiui, indeed, &ome have borne a 
few bunches Me same sea.'<o)i the f/raft was inserted. Both the 
White Sweetwater and Reissling have produced heavy crops 
again this season*; one vine of the Reissling, thiiii/ months old, 
having o)ie hundred and twenty-five bunches on it, the most of 
which were allowed to mature. In grafting, I select, if possible, 
a smooth place on the stock and cut it off square three or four 
inches below the surface of the ground, split it in the middle 
and insert one, or, if the stock is large, two, wedge-shaped 
scions, as in ordinary " cleft grafting," enclosing the stock and 
scion in soft clay, using no wax, and covering clay, scion and 
stock with earth, leaving one bud just at the surface of the 
ground, but jjartially covered. I prefer to graft in January, 
and, if the woi'k is carefully done and the clay kept slightly 
moist, the graft will be almost sure to grow. I jjlant a small 
wild vine in Avinter, spring, or early summer, where 1 wish a 
vine to grow, and graft the following winter with some choice 
variety. My experience in grafting the grape is limited, but justi- 
fies me in saying that I believe it to be by fi^r the best way of 
obtaining strong vines and fine fruit in tlie shortest possible 
time. 

If this article has the effect of inducing even one reader to 
cultivate this delicious fruit for the u^e of his own family, I 
shall feel well repaid for the hour devoted to it. 
Very respectfully, 

Daxip:l S. ChAvSk. 

South Lake Weir, August 14th, 1883. 




PINE-APPLE CULTURE. 



In the cultivation of the pine-apple the first thing tt) be 
done is to mellow and enrich the land. The pine-apple needs a 
strong fertilizer, such as guano, or bone and potash, or both. It 
has been stated that the pine-a2:)ple is largely an air plant, there- 
fore would grow on poor land. This is clearly a rnifetake, as the 
pine-apple is a gross feeder, and the absence of ])lant food ac- 
counts for the small apples which so many have raised. So I 
say again, fertilize heavily, if you wish large fruit. Plant the 
suckers in beds of two or three rows, of sufficient distance 
apart to allow of easy cultivation with hoe and rake, as 
they must not be jDcrmitted to become choked with Aveeds. 
Water, when set out, is all that is needed, unless a severe 
drought should follow, when they should be watered again. 
If the suckers are small they must be mulched to keep 
the heavy, beating rains from washing the earth into the 
heart, as this retards all fui-ther growth. But it would be prefer- 
able to have suckers large enough to do without mulching. In 
winter in this section they must be provided with slight protec- 
tion against frost. A slight frame from two to three feet high, 
covered with long, coarse swamp-grass, or palmetto leaves, is suf- 
ficient. This should not be removed until all danger of frost is 
past. When the fruit has attained some little size there will ap- 
pear little off-shoots around the base of the apple, also crownlets 
at the base of the crown. These should be broken off, as they 
are of ud use for future planting, and lesson the size of the fruit. 



HISTORY OF LAKK WEIK. 9o 

Suckers come from the old plant near the ground, which, with 
the crown of the apple, is all that should be planted. Suckers 
are the best, and Avill bear sooner than the crown. They should 
be removed from the parent plant when a foot to sixteen inches 
in height. 

Mrs. B. B. Ricker. 
Smith Lake Weir. 



PRICES OF LANDS. 

It is impossible for me to give the reader much information 
in regard to the prices of lands on or around Lake Weir. The 
prices vary much, according to the lake frontage of the land, 
its proximity to the lake, desirability of the building site on it, 
etc. I will simply state that property in this section is rapidly 
increasing in value, and refer tlie reader for additional informa- 
tion to those parties advertising in tlie book that they have lands 
for sale. 




WHAT LAKE WEIIR NEEDS. 



Lake Weir needs several large hotels, located at different 
points on the lake. They would be filled with people from the 
Northern States during the winter, and would pay to be kept 
open the year round. A more pleasant and desirable winter re- 
sort than Lake Weir cannot be found in Florida. A number of 
people living in the State would like to spend their summers on 
Lake Weir, provided they could obtain comfortable and pleasant 
accommodations. fSeveral good private boarding-houses would 
also pay well. , At present there is not a single hotel on Lake 
Weir, though there is talk of one or two being erected th'.s com- 
ing fall. 

Lake Weir needs a large sanitarium, under the charge of 
competent and skilled physicians. As a healtli resort. Lake 
Weir is unsurpassed. 

Lake Weir needs telegraphic and telephonic comnuiuication 
Avith the outside world. 

Livery stables, good market-houses, niore stores, dairy farms 
and an ice factory would all pay well on Lake Weir. True, there 
is talk of an ice factory and a livery stable being established 
here soon, liut two of each would prove profitable. 




94 



TO THE READER. 



Ill conclusion, I wish to have a pleasant little chat with my 
reader before bidding him a final good-bye. 

I hope that my work has not been in vain, and that you 
have derived some pleasure, if not benefit, from the perusal of 
my little book. I have endeavored to be candid and clear in all 
of my statements, and trust that you will not fail to understand 
me, whether you agree with me or-not. 

If you have enjoyed reading my little book, and wish to tell 
me of it, I shall be glad to hear from you. If you wish addi- 
tional information upon any point, write me, enclosing stamp, 
and I will do my best to furnish it to you. As you will see else- 
where, I have located at Brooksville, Hernando county, Florida, 
to engage in the })ractice of my profession. But I will reserve 
Hesperia, on Lake Weir, for my permanent home in after years. 

If you are an invalid, I would say, when winter's icy and 
chilling winds visit your Northern homes, follow the example of 
the birds, Nature's sweetest musicians, and turn your course 
southward. Come to Bright ]Vroon Lake and breathe its balmy 
and health-giving air. 

If you are a tourist or sportsman, I would say.. Lake Weir 
offers you many attractions. 

If you are thinking of locating in Florida, I would say, 

Lake Weir offers you healthfulness, natural beauty, good orange 

land, excellent social, school and chui'ch privileges, and good 

transportation. 

95 



/ 



ADDENDA. 

Since the .above was put in type a private letter from Mr. 
E. B. Foster, of S.uth Lake Weir, who is spending the summer 
at Westerly, Rhode Island, informs me that he has perfected ar- 
rangements for the erection of a hotel at South Lake Weir. The 
dimensions will be 30 by 85 feet, and it will accommodate about 
forty guests. It will be completed and thrown open to the pub- 
lic early in the coming winter. . It is located on the first lot west 
of Mr. Harry Guion's, on a fine blufi" one-half a mile from the 
station on the Florida Southern Railroad. Before another sea- 
son it will be greatly enlarged. I am unable to give further in- 
formation about the hotel now, but the reader may rest assured 
it will be a success, for Mr. Foster makes a success of everything 
he undertakes. 

I also understand that the Florida Southern Railroad in- 
tend erecting at an early date on the northeast side of Lake 
AVeir, near Dr. T. J. Myers' residence, a large building to be 
used as a restaurant and danciug hall. This is to be erected 
especially for the benefit of excursion parties and tourists who 
wish to visit Lake Weir. 

Again we say, Come and see Bright Moon Lake, the most 
beautiful lake in the South. 



m 



TO LAND BUYERS:"^EE— 

AND 

==^MONEY LENDERS. 



If you wish to buy land, improved or unin)proved, orange 
or lemon groves, at any point in South Fh:)rida, write to me for 
circulars, terms and full information. No matter at what point 
in South Florida you Ayisli to buy lands, write to mc and state 
exactly what you wish. If you have lands in South Florida for 
sale, write for my terms. I shall keep my business well adver- 
tised and shall deal fairly and honestly with all. If you have 
money to lend on real estate in Florida, write for my terms. 
There arc no usury laws in Florida, and contracts can be en- 
forced for any rate of interest agreed upon. Eight per cent, is 
the legal rate of interest in this State, but money can frequently 
be loaned for higher rates of interest and secured by moi'tgages 
on improved pro])erty and orange groves worth Uvo or three 
times the amount of mortgage. A mortgage on a Florida or- 
ange grove is safer and better than a mortgage on i-eal estate 
elsewhere, ))ecause an orange grove increases so ra})idly in value 
every year. If you haye money to lend and wish to invest it 
safely at a good per cent, for either a long or a short time, it 
will pay you to write to me. I think I can satisfy you as to the 
safety of real estate mortgages in Florida. It will cost you only 
a postage stamp to write and find out whether I can or not. If 
you wish to borrow money and can furnish gilt-edged, first-class 
security on real estate in Florida, and can satisfy me as to titles 
and value, it will pay you to write to me. My motto is "justice 
to all." With regard to my competency and reliability, I refer 
to General J. J. Finley and (Jeneral Robert Bullock, Ocala, 
Fla.; Captaiii John L. Carney, or any citizen of LaKe Weir, 
Fla. ; Ex-Governor A. S. Marks, Nashville Tenn. ; Hon. John 
M. Bright, I^'ayetteville, Tenn., and First National Bank, Fay- 
etteville, Tenn. If you Avrite me, do not fail to enclose stamp 
for reply. Very respectfully, 

T. M. Shackleford, 
Brooksville, Fla. 



INVESTMENTS IN FLORIDA, 



ThB undErsignGd having EstablishEd a 
jvroplEy, LO^pI and hJijiiD o^^lZE, at StantDH, Ma- 
rian Cnnntyj Flaridaj possess nnEqnaled 
facilities far effecting Inans; secnred by 
Real Estate in the best arange-grnv/ing 
sechnn ef Florida. 

The value af the securities taken an nur 
leans have mere than doubled vnthinthe 
past two (2) yearS| and a large increase 
vnllj v^ithout doubt, continue for several 
years in hiture, 



NO SAFER SEGURITIESGAN BE OFFERED TO THOSE WISH- 
ING TO INVEST EITHER SMALL OR LARGE SUMS OF MON- 
EY, AND DESIRING A LIBERAL RATE OF INTEREST. 



Our Lands were all jDurchasf^d before the location 
of the Florida Southern Railroad, and we offer them 
in large or small tracts at prices under the present 
Market Value. Address 

Stanton, Marion f'ounty, Florida. 



u, u 



, mm, a^ 



Attorney at Law, 

OG AL^ - - 



:FI_.OI^IID.iA. 



J. J. FiNLEY. T. M. SHACKLEFOKT). 

._^PINIiEY & fflA6KLEF0RD, D^ 
Attorneys, at Law, 



BI^OOIECSA^IXjXjE, 



-FJLjOT^XIDJ^. 



LAI\E WEI!^ L-^^HD^. 



Far any Infarmatinn in REgard Id Lake "Weir, 

Putting nnt G-pdves; PricES nf Lands, Im.- 

prnved and UnimprnvEd, -writE to 

13 1-. T^. ]>Jr. ^^ ^"" IE 1.^. 

LakE Wsir, Marian County, Flnrida. 



He has a few Choice Lots for sale. Apjily early 



21 WEST BAY ST.. JACKSONVILLE. FLA , • „.„.>„,., 

PUBLISHERS. BOOKSELLERS. STATIONERS. PRINTERS ami BINDERS. 

AND DEALERS IN 

We have the most complete Book Bindery in the State^ Can Rule. Number or 
Pa-^lnd Perforate any job sent us. Blanks and Blank Books manufactured to 
ofder for Railroads. Steamboats, Hotels, Banks and Corporations. 'Iheruhn;? ol 
difflcult jobs a specialty. ^^^ puBLISH THE 

A 20-paKe Weekly Agricultural Journal, at only $3.00 per year. Devoted to South- 
ern Agriculture, Fruit Growing. Market Gardening, etc. This paper has the largest 
cfrculltion of any published in Florida Specimen copies free. Write for a copy. 

It is generally conceded we do the finest Job I'riutii.g in the State We have all the 

modern machinery and all new type. Can pnnt the smallest^Visitmg Card to 

the largest size Poster. Printing of Pamphlets a specialty, bend for prices.. 

LIST ODP BOOKIS 035r :FLOI^IX)J^- 

WARPOTTRT'S FRUITS OF ; TOURISTS' aND INVALIDS' 
FUmiFM (cltn, ...."..Price $1 00 REFERENCE BOOK OF 

MimaiLt/SUHANGECU ! ^V1^TER TRAVEL. For 

TTTRF tliH latest iind best Price 100' 18H2-3. with maps Pri.e .tO 

FLOmD-A-'^FSoUmlTS;' iRU.DETOJACK^O.VILL^ 25 

INVALIDS AND Si-T | ORANGE CUL I L REIN C AL- 

TLERS (Barbour; profuse- .1 IFO^NIA. by A. T. Garey. 

FiioRl^'^rl^.-SOENERT-'""' ' ''^ ! A^A^AL OF GARDLNING^^"" ' ■" 
r-r UVIATE VnVhISTORY : in FLO kIDA ( Whimer) . . .Price .'SO 

pL^nL'^T'^. -'.':.':..".'.'''^^'^.'^ .Price 1 oO COLTON'S MAP OF FLOR- 

'TFdwa™ ^;aJer''^'^''''''''Price 1 ..0 COLTON'S-MXp-OF FLOR:"^'"" "' 

FimrANKsPH^fsTORYOF'^'"'^ , - J. v^^.^ ITD^Tr^cn^RlTf .l.p'^™' ' '" 
TTTORTDA Price 2 i>0 NE^^ AND ACCu RAIL 31AJ:' 

TOUrIts'^ANU INvXlIDS' .,«r^|^''^^-^t^i?Iv7.mEST''""'' 

REFERENCE HOOK OF . .J '"^.^.^^t^J^v^ oF FT ORIDA 

WT \TH"R TRAVEL Price T.5 ' OF LAWS Ol* I'L.Ul-i.iDA 

SOUTH FLORID ^ . THE I V- \ J«\« ^^i^^H^fl^F D^ CMONS^'''"' ' ''" 

AL Y O F AM E RIC A Price 25 : INDEX TO r H E DECISIO N b 

DAVIS-ORANGECUL'IURE Rm^RTO^ FT oIlD^ Price i 00 

SofJdr^"''^''^^' ^"%rico 50 n8?E.?f'r%I^SlPn^l2nD,On'^"" ' "^ 

MOoTE^f^oRANCiE'cUL:'^ ' ?^?T^f^f)^srOF sSl^rii 

TFTRF (new edition en- (iULFCOAbl Ob biUUI±l 

Kd and'Tmpmed)...... Price 1 00 ' FLORIDA. Its eHmate. soil 

OR.4.NGE INSECrS-IUustra- and productions (by Samuel _^^ 

ted (Ashmead) Price 1 ^ C|Jpham) ..._... ^^..Papei ,o 

HISTORY OF Sr. AUGUS- , .,- ^^^StnT HOMF Price 10 

TINE (Dewhurst) Price \ 2r, \ NENT HOMI^. riict 

GUIDE'JOST. AUGUSTLNE 
AND FLORIDA (Bloom- 1 

field) Price oO i ■ , <, ■ 

Any of the above books mailed on receipt ol price. 

A^IE-V^S OIF :FI.0E'I.I3^- . ^ 

iSenthymnil, postage free, on rec^'ipt <■/ ■ "'■^^' 

111 Boob Form, Coiitaiiiiiig 13 Views JH^acli- 

Souvenir of Florida (small size)..' ... 25c I Souvenir o ' f^k.o"!'"^^ f;|« ^, % vg^ 

Scenes and characters of the Sunny Souvenir o^^!; Augustine (Irge size) .,0c 

South (small size ) 25c I Stereoscopic^\^i^v_s, pei doz *1 SO 

10,000 copies ot^.^°h^.av? j^st been issued by ";;' '^"^^1'"^ f|,SESs 
rial s z ■ oiored views in a handsome cloth case, illustrating the different sections 

""' 'Thi!^s\Ve'handsomest work of the kind ever published in Florida. Pri^e, by 
mail, postage fxee, .50c. Every one intere_sted in Florida should have a copy. 

Warranty Deed= ner doz^rTT .5Uc I Moi tgages, per doz •■ ■-• -'"l 

Qu1[-c^aim DiedV, ^er doz 50c | Nota^nal Seal Presses, made to ^_ ^^ 

We publish a full line of Law Blanks for^Lawyersi Jusiic^s of the Peace. Cir- 
cuit Courts, etc. Pric -list mailed on a pplication. 

OR.^NGE WRAPS. -Full count-^i^ieets to the ream.> 1^10. lie. per ream; 
11x11, I7c. per ream ; 12x12. i9c. pei ream. 



M. A. DZIALYNSKI, 

WHfir.KSALK AM) UliTAll, DKALKK IN 

<AllUIA(;i:S. PIIAKTONS, ROCKAWAYS, OPEN aiil TOP 

l'.i:*r(;r]':S, HUCKBOARDS, ROAD and VILLAPrE 

CARTS. SPRTXO and FARM WAGONS. 



LARGEST STOCK AND LOWEST PRICES IN THE STATE. 



Cataloj,nins antl l>ri_-e Lists funiished on application. Special pi-ice.> t ) Diialers. 



State Agent CORTLAND WAGON COMPANY; Agant COLUMBUS BUG- 
GY COMPANY ; For the IMPROVED TENNES- 
SEE and STUDEBAKER 



DISSTON PURCHflSJ— 4,000,000 HCRES ! 

riORIDA LAND AND IMPROVEMENT COMPANl'. 
Lands for Sale at Government Price of $1.25 per Acre. 

In Blocks of Not Less Than 80 Nor More Than 64-0 Acres. 

rPHESE LANDS INCLUDE ALL VARIETIES OF UPLAND AND LOWLAND, 
-•- and are adapted to Oranges, l^fmons. JJaies, Pineapples l-iananas. Sugar Cai)e. 
Early Vegetables, etc., and are chietly in t lie counties of St. Johns, Volusia, Bre- 
vard. Orange. Sumter. Levy. Hernando, Hil'sborousih, Polk, Manatee and Monroe. 
Our Lauds are selling rapidly 'I housands of Settlers have located on Iheiii 
during the past six months. Do not delay ir vou want them at t-iv.sent low prices. 

W. T. FORB> S, 
liaiid Commissiuiier, .Tacksoiiville, Fla. 

T. H. ASBURY, President. 

HAMILTON DISSTON, Vice Pre.sident. T. W. PALMER, Secretary 

L. W. KLAHR, Treasurer. 

*^ OO tf>00 A^CRES CHi dCEST LOCATIONS FOR UESiDENCES AND 

"^ ^-"-^ ' ^-^ ^ ' ^-^ cultivation of Oranges, Lemons, Pineapples, Bananas, Co- 

<;oanuts, etc , in the counties of 

Orange, Brevard, Siiiiitcr, Polk. Hillsboroiigli, Manatee and Monroe. 

Sold in Quantities to Suit Buyers. 

Pi ices from $3.50 to $10 per acre, according to location and quality. 

TTiqciTMMh^F PTTV ( ^"^'"^^''s Lots $200 to $500. 

KlbMMMEEt.lli f Five-Acre Lots $300 to $500. 

W. T FORBES, Manager, 

Jackson viile. Fla. 



PIKE, CLICK & CO,, 

RECEIVERS AND PACKERS OF 

LORIDA ORANGES AND 

YEGETABLES. 



344 Greenwich Street, - * " New York 



REFERENCES : 

R. S. Coiu.ver, Pauasofflcee Lake; J. T. Harris, Citra, Fla. ; John 

A. Pike, Panasoffkee Lake; R. J. Dean 

tt Co., Bankers, N. Y. 



FLORIDA SAVINGS BANK 

AND 

lE^E^L ESTATE EXIOHZ^nsrOE, 
JacliiBioiiville, Florida, 

HAS FOR SALE 

CHOICE LOTS, ORANGE GROVES AND WILD LANDS. 

ALLOWS INTEREST ON DEPOSITS, 

COLIKCTS llENTS AND INTEREST, NEGOTIATES LOANS, Etc. 

J. C. GREELEY, President. HENR Y S. ELY, Treasurer . 

aF'c.'SiTlZbIc^H^R: W. F. SlTLZBACHER. 

consrsic^isrnyniEisrTS sox,iciteid. 

PEALKRS IN AND SHIPPERS OF 

FRUIT, VECxETABLES, FISH AND OYSTERS. 

■r08"FMrh/ Sfraivberries and Georgia Melons a Specialty.-^ 
36 28, 30 and 32 N. Cherry Street, 

NASHVILLE, .... TENNESSEE. 

REFERENCES : 
First National Bank, Nasliville, Tennessee, or any Agent of South- 
ern Express Company. 



Of all the Liver llegiilators now in Use, 

EUREKA 

IS THE BEST. 

Try a bottle and if it does not give satisfact'on return tlic bottle and ■* 
get your money refunded. 

FOR SALE BY 

Druggists and Store-keepers in Ocala, and on Lake 
We:r, Fla. 

— AND— 
M. I>. HOOD & CO., - Wliolesale Agents, - Columbus, Georgia. 

Situated in South Lake Weir, in Sections 29, 32 

and 30. 

All Rolling, good Pine Land, suitable for 

ORANGE GROVES AND OTHER FRUITS. 

High elevation, overlookin'j; the LaVe. Will be sold in tracts to 
suit. Groves set out and honestly eared for at reasonable rates. 
Address 






OCJ^L^^, 



ZFHiOI^ID.^. 



HARDWARE IN ALL FFS BRANCHES. 

CarpentGrs^ Tnnls, 

Bar IrDHj CutlEry^ 

Pumpsj Wagon Materials, 
Sasli, Doors and Blinds. Mouldings, Brackets, Etc. 



jNIost extensive T3rug Business in sixty miles of Lake 
Weir, and I made it such by adhering 

faithfully to my motto : 

:^inest Soods at Moderate Prices, 



All DrdErs, JLccDuipariied. by Praper EnclosiirB, vv1i.bii iliB 

PartiES ere nDt Favnradly Kncvv/n to me, will 

Pv.BCBi\^B Prainpt and CarBful AttBiitlDn, 



Soliciting- a generous patronago on the strength of iny motto, I am, 
respectfully, 

R. R. SIVO^^OEIV, r»lx. Oi-., 

Ooalu, Fla. 



A BUSINESS MAN'S BOOK 

03Sr IF'I-.OI^ZID.A.. 

riORIDA STATE GAZETTEEP 



i # BUSINESS DIRECTORY- 



■188^84, 



o 



iV 



( ONTAINING THE NAME, BUSINESS AND ADDKESS 

OF KVERY 

MERCHANT, PROFESSIONAL AND BUSINESS MAN, 

PRINCIPAL FARMERS AND LAND OWNERS, 

ORANGE GROVES AND PLANTATIONS, 

TOGBTHEB WITH A 

Sketch, of all Cities, Towns and Villages in tlie State and how- 
to reaoli them, hesides other valuable information. 

600 :F-A.Q -ES- ^5,0Q0 ISTA-IV^ES, 

PRICE, --------. $5.00 

Address orders to 
Box 1042. JACKSONVILLE, FLA. 

59 W. Bay St., Jacksonville, Fla., 

B00I1S5 Stationery, Printing and Binding, 

TOYS, OOUe AND FANCY C00D8, 

Full Hr.e of all BOHOOT. BOOKS and SCHOOL SUPPLIES. Special Discount to 

Teachers. Orders from the trade particularly solicited. Satisfaction and Low 

Prices Guarauteed. A Specialty of 

OKA.]VOE TrUA-PS 

In all sizes— 10x10, 11x11, 12x12, of best stock at mill rates. I, will guarantee THE 
BEST WRAP for the least money. 

LIST OF 3Pr.OBtir>A BOOKS. 



Florida: For Tourists, Invalids and Set- 
tlers: best general work on the State 
$1.50 

Florida: Its Scenery, Climate and His- 
tory; by Sydney Lanier 1.50 

Bloomfleld's Historical Guide to St. Au- 
gustine,Halifax and Indian Rivers 50 

8t. Augustine: Its History and Antiqui- 
ties; Fairbanks, (flex. $1.00) 1.25 

Hlstoi-y of Florida: Fairbanks,(standard) 
„ 2.50 

PeSoto and Florida: Shipp— large 8vo — 
Fine work 6.(t0 

Orange Culture, by Garey — cloth .... 1.25 

Moore's OrangeCuTture-(the standard) 50 

How to Have an Orange Grove in Flori- 
da; Porter— just out— tho latest work 
on the subject 25 

Gardening in Florida; "Whitner 50 



Colton's New Sectional Map of Florida, 
revised for 1883, most accurate and 

best 1.25 

Colton's smaller Map of Florid a 75 

Map of St. JohuH River 8 feet long... 25 
Florida: soil, climate and productions 25 
A Seminole Tragedy in Florida; a true 

Indian narrative 10 

Guide to Jacksonville 25 

Conquest of Florida (Irving) 2.00 

Petals Plucked From a Sunny Clime 

(with map $1.75) 1.60 

South Florida: Italy of America 

Sunland on Manatee River; Gulf Coast— 

(Upham) 25 

Tourists' and Invalids' Reference Book 

of Winter Travel 75 

Palmetto Leaves (H, B. Stowe) 1.60 

History of Lake Weir (Shackleford) CO 



Bt. Augustine; Bull 76 

H^" Any of above, or any work published, sent, post free, on receipt of price. „.£. 



I'lie Largest and JVEost Goniplete Establishment] ^outli, 



-o- 



GEO, S. MUCKER & SON, 

{ESTABLISHED 1812,) 



Office ami .^a^ yf^^fflmUBMiilliSll Yards, 



Warersoms, King, ^^SB^K^^^^ UJl usHllI I lloSff "Wolfe Street 



a 




opposite l^i^^^o^^^^^^^^^lt sP^^Wl au(l 

Camion Street; ^j ^/. i .._TT^^^^^^fa J^^^ ^^^^^^^^p Raili'oact Avenue. 
MANUFACTURERS OF 

Boors, Sasli, Blinds, Mouldings and 

Building Materalls. 

oi^^HQE hJiii-^^ FOR ^Khz, 

— AT— 

SOUTH LSKE WEIR SND STSNTON. 



Some of the finest located lands around Lake 
Weir, lying immediately back of the Lake fronts, 
with fine building sites, commanding a good view of 
the Lake. Florida Southern Railroad Station within 
one-quarter mile. Land will be sold in lots to suit 
purchasers at 

Call on or address 

E. B. FOSTER, Soutli take Weir. 






